Title holders in the Under 19 Boys teams event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö Romania will play against last year’s bronze medalists Germany. In Sweden bronze medals were secured by Slovakia and France. Both Under 18 Boys semifinals brought great suspense. Germany’s Andre BERTELSMEIER Wim VERDONSCHOT and Manuel PROHASKA were stretched to the full distance in their clash against the team that advanced from Level 2 of the Championships. Slovakia’s Samuel PALUSEK Samuel ARPAS and Damian FLORO put the favorites to a severe test. ARPAS and FLORO won against VERDONSCHOT and PROHASKA. “It was an amazing performance from our team. We fought hard and never gave up. I am satisfied with my own play. We are looking forward to playing Romania tomorrow. We are the underdog but sometimes the underdog wins ” warned BERTELSMEIER. In the other semifinal Iulian CHIRITA was the player of the moment. He overcame Flavien COTON 3-2 and Nathan LAM 3-0. COTON managed to overcome Andrei ISTRATE while Darius MOVILEANU prevailed against Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT 3-2. “It was an amazing performance from our team. I was satisfied with my play today. We have a strong team with three good players. Our goal is to win the final tomorrow ” said CHIRITA.

Reigning champions Germany are just one step away from defending their title in the Under 15 Girls teams event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö. Tomorrow in the final they will meet no. 2 seeds Poland. Bronze medals were secured by Portugal and Czechia. In the semifinal top-seeded Germany represented by Koharu ITAGAKI Lisa-Sophie WANG and Josephina NEUMANN overcame no. 7 seeds Portugal with Beatriz PINTO Julia LEAL and Joana PINTO. Germany’s Lisa-Sophie WANG crushed Portugal’s hopes at the very beginning after a hard-earned victory over LEAL in five games. Afterwards ITAGAKI justified her status in both singles and doubles with NEUMANN. “This match was very difficult for us. We were never challenged in Malmö the way we were challenged now in the semis. The crucial moment was Lisa’s win over LEAL. She was forced to go the full five games and was down in the decisive game. It could have gone the other way around. That is why we are very happy to reach the final and I hope we will achieve our goal and defend the title again. It doesn’t matter who will be on the other side of the table we will be focused on us ” said ITAGAKI. For a second time today Poland was stretched to five full matches. After overcoming last year’s finalists France Poland beat no. 3 seeds and last year’s bronze medalists Czechia in the evening program. Both Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA and Maja LAKOMA scored in their singles and doubles matches while Hanka KODETOVA secured two wins for Czechia. “I’m very happy with my team. We played very well. I hope we will be even better tomorrow ” said LAKOMA. Tomorrow’s final is scheduled for 17:30.  

Reigning champions Romania will face France in tomorrow’s final of the Under 19 Girls teams event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö. No. 1 seeds Poland were defeated in their match against France equaling last year’s achievement and clinching the bronze medal. The same goes for Germany. Seeded at position no. 3 France beat the top-seeded Poland in straight matches. Nina Guo ZHENG set the pace with a 3-1 victory over Zuzanna WIELGOS. Leana HOCHART also lost only one game against Anna BRZYSKA while the duel between Clea De STOPPELEIRE and Natalia BOGDANOWICZ went the full distance. “I feel very happy because we beat Poland 3-0. They are such a good team. I felt stressed when I won 3-2. It was a difficult match for me so I feel very lucky right now. I had 2-0 and 8-4 and then the pressure came. She came back with two games. But I won that’s the most important ” said Clea De STOPPELEIRE. Last year’s finalists Germany played a re-run of the ultimate stage duel in Gliwice but this time Romania concluded the match with one duel less winning 3-1. Both teams came to Sweden with rejuvenated line-ups. There was only one exception on both sides: Bianca MEI ROSU and Mia GRIESEL. Mia was the only scorer for Germany tonight. She beat Alesia Sofia SFERLEA but failed to repeat the success against Bianca MEI ROSU. Lorena MORSCH also lost to Bianca and Andrea TEGLAS secured the third point for Romania in the duel against Eireen KALAITZIDOU. “We are ready for the finals and to win the title. Romania is a good team. We will see but we hope to win tomorrow ” said MEI ROSU. “It was a tough match and we had to play well to win. Our goal when we came here was to reach the final. We are looking forward to playing against France in the final. We will have to play at our highest level to win.” The final will be played tomorrow at 17:30 CET.

Italy will meet Romania in the final of the Under 15 Boys teams event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö. Türkiye and Czechia lost their semifinal duels and will have their consolation in bronze. Seeded at position no. 2 Italy beat no. 6 seeds Türkiye in straight matches but despite the result the nail-biting duel generated great tension and drama. Danilo FASO and Francesco TREVISAN on one side and Görkem ÖÇAL and Kenan KAHRAMAN on the other knew each other very well. All four players were members of the mixed teams that clashed in the final of the European Under 13 Championships played two years ago in Zagreb. In contrast to that clash Italy won the match in Sweden. “It was a difficult match but we are used to playing with each other and we knew how to achieve good focus. We are very happy with the place in the final but also we are very satisfied with our game ” said TREVISAN. Danilo FASO added “It is good to be in the final. We did not forget what happened in Zagreb. It is good to win. They challenged us the most so far in the Championships.” Speaking of their next adversary Romania he said “We will give our best. We do not think about our adversary. We are focused only on our performance.” No. 3 seed Romania prevailed against Czechia. Jan SKALDA overcame Mihai NAGY at the beginning of the match but from that point Romania was in the driving seat. Robert Alexandru ISTRATE overcame Jakub KABELKA who also suffered at the hands of NAGY in his second singles match. “It was a tough match. Both teams played very well. We fought really hard. In the end we were a bit stronger. We are looking forward to meeting Italy in the final. They have two really strong players in their team ” explained ISTRATE. The final will be played tomorrow at 17:30 CET.

Slovakia created the biggest upset of the Under 19 Boys teams event at the European Youth Championships. Led by no. 10 seed in singles Samuel ARPAS Slovakia secured a medal after pushing themselves forward from Level 2 of the competition. Slovakia was placed at position no. 17 at the start of the Championships. Leon BENKO gave Croatia a dream start with a victory over Samuel PALUSEK in the opening duel of the match against Slovakia. However ARPAS changed the course of the match and with a victory over Borna PETEK started a row of victories. Damian FLORO beat Ivan HENCL before ARPAS beat BENKO again. In the semifinal later today they will meet last year’s bronze medalists and no. 3 seeds Germany. In a match that was much closer than the 3-0 result suggests Andre BERTELSMEIER Wim VERDONSCHOT and Manuel PROHASKA beat Giacomo ALLEGRANZA Federico VALLINO and Giacomo IZZO. All three matches were extended to the full distance. In the top half of the draw titleholders Romania overcame Poland 3-1. Mateusz ZALEWSKI won the only point for Poland beating Darius MOVILEANU before Iulian CHIRITA leveled the match with a victory over Dawid MICHNA. CHIRITA secured his second win with a 3-1 victory over ZALEWSKI. Last year’s bronze medalists France equaled their previous result. In the quarters they overcame Hungary 3-1. Flavien COTON won both his matches against Balazs LEI and David SZANTOSI. Nathan LAM lost to LEI but Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT overcame Botond Zoltan VARGA.

Titleholders in the Under 15 Girls teams event Germany secured their place in the semifinal of the European Youth Championships. In the penultimate stage they will meet Portugal a team seeded only at position no. 9. The no. 2 and no. 3 seeds Poland and Czechia are also in the semifinals. Germany’s Koharu ITAGAKI Lisa-Sophie WANG and Josephina NEUMANN in doubles left no chance to Austria’s Nina SKERBINZ and Mariia LYTVYN. All three matches concluded in straight games. Portugal also resolved their quarterfinal duel in straight matches. Beatriz PINTO and Julia LEAL proved too strong for Spain who won bronze last year in Poland. This year Irina Gimeno FONT and Irina SHYPSHA failed to equal that result. Poland ranked at position no. 2 in the seedings halted the progress of last year’s finalists France. Alexia NODIN Eva LAM and Lisa ZHAO lost after five full matches against Maja LAKOMA and Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA. Czechia no. 3 seed and last year’s bronze medalists beat Croatia in straight matches. Czechia was represented by Simona HOLUBOVA and Hanka KODETOVA while Franka MISKIC Leeloo Han VUKELJA and Franka MISKIC played for Croatia.

In the Under 19 Girls teams event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö the top four seeds underlined their status by remaining unbeaten in the quarterfinals. By doing so they secured their places on the medal rostrum. In the semifinal Poland will meet France while Romania will play against Germany. Top seeds Poland represented by Zuzanna WIELGOS Anna BRZYSKA (who won the bronze medal last year in Poland) and Natalia BOGDANOWICZ overcame Slovakia’s Ema CINCUROVA Dominika WILTSCHKOVA and Nina DAROVCOVA in straight games today. In a similar style Nina Guo ZHENG Leana HOCHART and Clea De STOPPELEIRE of France prevailed against Spain’s Maria BERZOSA Silvia COLL and Eugenia SASTRE. France also won the bronze medal last year. Last year’s finalists Germany represented by Lorena MORSCH Mia GRIESEL and Eireen KALAITZIDOU had a much tougher duel. Portugal’s Matilde PINTO Mariana Santa COMBA and Susana COSTA put them to a severe test. PINTO won both her matches against MORSCH and GRIESEL but the rest of the team failed to follow. Rejuvenated Romania’s team with Bianca MEI ROSu as the only remaining member of last year’s gold medal-winning team beat Czechia. MEI ROSU prevailed against Helena SOMMEROVA and Veronika POLAKOVA. POLAKOVA was stretched to full distance against Alesia Sofia SFERLEA but won that point. Andrea TEGLAS beat Vendula SICHANOVA.

In the morning session of the Under 15 Boys Teams event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö four teams secured their medals. Later this afternoon we will follow the semifinals while the finals are scheduled for Tuesday at 17:30 CET. In the semifinal Romania will meet Czechia while Türkiye will play against Italy. The longest duel of the round was between France and Italy seeded at position no. 2. Last year’s bronze medalists France were denied a spot on the medal rostrum this year. Sandro CAVAILLE and Noah VITEL managed to stretch Danilo FASO and Francesco TREVISAN to the full distance but the no. 2 seed in singles FASO won both his singles and doubles matches. Italy will meet Türkiye; Görkem ÖÇAL and Kenan KAHRAMAN prevailed against England’s Abraham SELLADO Max RADIVEN and Kacper PIWOWAR. Türkiye lost in the round of 16 last year. The duel between top-seeded Poland and no. 3 seed Romania ended in favor of the lower-ranked team. Robert Alexandru ISTRATE and Mihai NAGY confirmed their bronze clinched last year and with a 3-1 win over Patryk ZYWORONEK and Samuel MICHNA proved they can aim higher. No. 1 seed in the under 15 singles event ZYWORONEK beat NAGY but lost to ISTRATE 2-3. Czechia’s Jan SKALDA and Jakub KABELKA showed no mercy against Germany with a 3-0 win. Germany’s Jonas RINDERER Lukas WANG and Ivo QUETT failed to win a game in their respective duels.

The top seeds in the Under-19 Boys’ Teams Event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö Romania booked their place in the quarterfinals. In a surprising turn of events Romania will face Poland in the next stage a match many had anticipated would be the final clash. Poland’s unexpected loss to Sweden in the group stage pushed them into the same part of the draw as Romania. Although Sweden occupied the lower half of the draw in the Round of 16 they failed to progress to the quarters losing to Slovakia in a dramatic duel. Romania’s Andrei ISTRATE Darius MOVILEANU and Iulian CHIRITA overcame Slovenia’s Brin VOVK PETROVSKI Miha PODOBNIK and Matic COPAR in straight games. Poland needed all five games to survive a fierce performance from last year’s Under-15 singles champion Tiago ABIODUN who won both his matches against Rafal FORMELA and Mateusz ZALEWSKI. However Pedro BRANDAO and Rafael KONG couldn’t match Tiago’s level allowing Poland to advance to the quarters. Sweden engaged in a tough battle before losing to Slovakia. Isak ALFREDSSON gave Sweden a dream start by defeating Samuel PALUSEK 3-0 but Samuel ARPAS scored twice against ALFREDSSON 3-2 and against William BERGENBLOCK 3-0. FLORO beat David BJORKRYD in another five-game thriller. “I feel incredible. Sweden was playing very well against us and they didn’t lose any matches in the group. We were playing in the second division because last year we fell down. This year we went match by match and this win is very sweet for us ” said ARPAS. Asked about his last match that went the full distance against ALFREDSSON Samuel said “I think that neither of us played our best. It was more of a tactical match. Now we will meet Croatia and I really think we can beat them. We have three good players they have three good players. It’s 50/50 and we will see.” The French team represented by Flavien COTON Nathan LAM and Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT prevailed against Austria’s Zhenlong LIU Petr HODINA and Tobias HOLD in straight matches. However the opening duel was challenging. “I’m very happy with myself and our team against Austria. It was a good match. The first one we succeeded to win 3-2. This helped us. I started very well and succeeded to win 3-0 ” said NOIRAULT. Speaking about their goals in Sweden he added “We’re gonna look at our opponents then prepare the best we can. Hopefully we can reach the semifinals.”  

Top two seeds Germany and Poland booked their place in the Under-15 Girls’ Teams event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö securing their progress to the quarterfinals without any alarm. However the drama was reserved for the duel between Portugal and Sweden. Three out of four matches went the full distance. Siri BENJEGÅRD gave Sweden a dream start with a win over Beatriz PINTO but Portugal quickly turned the tide. Julia LEAL overcame Gabriela AALTONEN and Siri BENJEGÅRD while the doubles match concluded in five games with Portugal winning three of them 11-9. Angelina BEBAWY joined BENJEGÅRD in doubles for Sweden while LEAL and PINTO played for Portugal. “I still feel nervous. It was very tough matches going 3-2 3-2 3-2. Everything was so tense and I’m still shaking. After the last match I felt amazing. This is what I really needed. I started tense but then I could play more freely and then it was comfortable. We will continue to fight for every point in this tournament ” said LEAL. The reigning European Under-15 singles champion Hanka KODETOVA along with Simona HOLUBOVA launched Czechia to the quarterfinals after a 3-1 win over Hungary’s Nora DOHOCZKI and Sophie BARCSAI. “We played well in singles and our tactic was to go much with forehand. The opponents played well but in the end our team was the strongest ” said KODETOVA. Germany’s Koharu ITAGAKI and Lisa-Sophie WANG won their singles matches against Türkiye’s Duru KIRBAÇ and Ela Su YÖNTER. Then Josephina NEUMANN joined ITAGAKI to secure the win in the doubles. Germany will face Austria in the semifinals. In the lower half of the draw Poland’s Maja LAKOMA and Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA overcame Slovakia’s Nela ONDRUSOVA and Liliana Alicja GUASSARDO in straight matches. Poland will play against France in the quarterfinals.