The 51st Balkan Senior Championships concluded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, after five days of competition from 15 to 19 September, with Moldova and Serbia among the leading nations across the seven events.
Moldova enjoyed an outstanding Men’s competition, taking both the team and Singles titles as well as Men’s Doubles gold.
In the Men’s Team event, Moldova defeated Romania 3-1 in the semi-final before overcoming Serbia 3-2 in a closely contested final. Serbia had booked its place in the title match with a 3-1 victory over Greece. Greece secured the bronze medal after defeating Romania 3-2.
Moldova’s Vladislav URSU then completed a superb individual campaign by winning the Men’s Singles crown. URSU beat Greece’s Gerasimos CHATZILYGEROUDIS 4-3 in the quarter-final and Türkiye’s Hakan IŞIK 4-0 in the semi-final before defeating compatriot Andrei PUTUNTICA 4-1 in the final. PUTUNTICA had overcome Serbia’s Dimitrije LEVAJAC 4-0 in the other semi-final.
URSU and PUTUNTICA also joined forces to claim the Men’s Doubles title. The Moldovan pair defeated the Romanian/Serbian combination of Horia URSUT and Vladimir PANDUREVIĆ 3-1 in the semi-final before recording a 3-0 victory over Greece’s Gerasimos CHATZILYGEROUDIS and Alexandros MADESIS in the final. Serbia’s Dimitrije LEVAJAC and Nemanja ĐILAS reached the semi-finals, where they lost 3-0 to the Greek pair.
Serbia celebrated gold in the Women’s Team event. After beating Kosovo 3-0 in the quarter-final and Greece 3-0 in the semi-final, Serbia defeated Romania 3-1 in the final. Romania had reached the title match after a 3-2 semi-final victory over Bulgaria. Bulgaria then beat Greece 3-2 in the contest for third place.
Romania’s Adina DIACONU was dominant in the Women’s Singles event. She defeated Türkiye’s Büşra DEMİR 4-0 in the quarter-final and Greece’s Ioanna GERASIMATOU by the same score in the semi-final. In the final, DIACONU continued her unbeaten run through the knockout stage with another 4-0 victory, this time against Serbia’s Reka BEZEG. BEZEG had beaten Romania’s Patricia STOICA 4-0 in the other semi-final.
Türkiye took the Women’s Doubles crown through Büşra DEMİR and Aybüke Banu ŞİMŞEK. They defeated Serbia’s Aneta MAKSUTI and Reka BEZEG 3-0 in the semi-final before overcoming Bulgaria’s Maria YOVKOVA and Kalina HRISTOVA 3-1 in the final. YOVKOVA and HRISTOVA had earlier edged Serbia’s Sara RADAK and Maja VANJO 3-2 in the quarter-final and Bianca-Andreea JIFCU and Dimitra TSEKOURA in semis.
The Mixed Doubles competition produced another title for Vladislav URSU, this time alongside Bulgaria’s Kalina HRISTOVA. The Moldovan/Bulgarian combination defeated Serbia’s Nemanja ĐILAS and Aneta MAKSUTI 3-0 in the semi-final before beating Serbia’s Dimitrije LEVAJAC and Reka BEZEG 3-1 in the final. LEVAJAC and BEZEG had reached the title match with a 3-2 semi-final victory over Andrei PUTUNTICA of Moldova and Maria YOVKOVA of Bulgaria.
