The Greek Open which was part of the ETTU’s Europe Youth series concluded in Loutraki Corinthia with thrilling finals a vibrant atmosphere from all the young athletes and many smiles. For four days 37 athletes from three countries gave their best for honors and enjoyed the matches at the Sport Camp facility. Denmark’s Malik SEVERINSEN was the victor in the boys’ Under 13 singles. In the girls’ Under 13 singles Greece’s Anna-Fanouria MITKA claimed the title. In the Boys’ Under 15 singles Greece’s Ioannis KOUTRA lifted the cup adding to his victory in Croatia in the Europe Youth Series last April. The girls’ Under 15 singles was dominated by Anastasia CHKHARTISHVILI of Georgia. In the doubles gold medals were earned by Denmark’s Emil HASSELBLANK/Malik SEVERINSEN in the boys’ Under 13 Anna-Fanouria MITKA and Elpida TASIOU of Greece in the girls’ Under 13 Ioannis KOUTRA/Ioannis KIOSELOGLOU in the boys’ Under 15 and Vassiliki BOULA/Stella MAVROMATAKI of Greece in the girls’ Under 15. The tournament which didn’t have strong international participation nevertheless featured excellent organization and suitable conditions for the athletes. It marks a new beginning for the Greek federation. The president of the H.T.T.F. Kostas PAPAGEORGIOU was present. Awards on behalf of the federation were presented by Stefanos STOGIANNOPOULOS general secretary of the local Sports Club Poseidon Loutraki. The finals saw an enthusiastic audience creating an incredible atmosphere alongside the athletes. In the mini cadet boys there was a field of eight players. Left-handed Malik SEVERINSEN and right-handed Emil HASSELBACK from Denmark advanced to the final. SEVERINSEN showed his prowess and secured the highest step of the podium with a 3-1 victory (11-4 11-7 11-3). Ioannis KIOSELOGLOU and Konstantinos ALEXOUDIS reached the semifinals but were defeated by the excellent Danes earning bronze medals. Giannis KYOSELOGLOU was beaten 3-0 by SEVERINSEN and Konstantinos ALEXOUDIS lost 3-1 to HASSELBLANK. In the mini cadet girls four Greek athletes secured medal positions on October 27th. In the final Anna-Fanouria MITKA and Athanasia GOGA who overcame their Greek counterparts faced off. In the boys’ Under 15 competition Ioannis KOUTRA and Ioannis KIOSELOGLOU local athletes from the Poseidon team in Loutraki won the gold and bronze medals respectively. KOUTRA emerged as the victor prevailing 3-1 (11-9 11-7 7-11 11-6). KOUTRA eliminated Denmark’s Malik SEVERINSEN in 3-0 sets in the semifinals. KIOSELOGLOU had defeated the second seed Emil HASSELBLANK in the quarterfinals with a 3-2 score and also vanquished Konstantinos ALEXOUDIS with a 3-2 score in the semifinals. In the girls’ Under 15 category Anastasia CHKHARTISHVILI of Georgia secured the top position. She met China-born Sami LU of Denmark in the final. CHKHARTISHVILI demonstrated great consistency after the second set and won 3-1 to claim the trophy (11-6 9-11 11-2 11-5). Vasiliki BOULA and Angela NURE won the bronze medals. The former was defeated in the semifinals by LOU in a five-set thriller. “I am very happy because I managed to win my second tournament in the Europe Youth series. I prepared quite well as I recently returned from an 8-day training camp in Taipei thanks to an Olympic Scholarship secured by the Greek Federation. The camp was very intense and I had a unique experience in general ” said the 15-year-old champion. “It was an honor and a pleasure for us kids from Loutraki to play international games in our city and in front of our own people. The most challenging moment on my way to the three gold medals was in the final of the team event when I faced the Georgian CHKHARTISHVILI. The match went to the 5th set but with composure I managed to win. It’s the end of a fantastic year for me in the youth category. We promoted the national team to the A category in Europe barely won the bronze medal at the Balkan Championships secured four first-place finishes in the Europe Youth Series and I believe I’ve made significant progress in my competitive skills.” In the final of the girls’ Under 13 doubles Anna Fanouria MITKA and Elpida TASIOU defeated Andrea GREGERSEN/Celinda VUNG of Denmark 3-1 (11-8 11-13 11-5 13-11). In the boys Under 13 doubles final Denmark’s Emil HASSELBACK/Malik SEVERINSEN defeated Konstantinos ISAAKIDIS/Konstantinos ALEXOUDIS 3-1 (16-14 12-10 11-13 11-8). In the thrilling final of the girls’ Under 15 doubles Vasiliki boula/Stella Mavromataki overcame Anastasia tskartishvili/Tekla Liparteliani of Georgia 3-1 (11-8 15-17 11-6 11-3). The boys’ Under 15 doubles final was a Greek affair. Yiannis KOUTRA/Yiannis KIOSELOGLOU celebrated the first place defeating Theofanis-Giorgos MITKAS/Kosta FAKAROS 3-0 (11-9 11-3 11-4). The bronze medals had been secured since Friday: The Greek pairs Sophia filis/Athanasia Goga and Despina DEMETRIOU/Afroditi-Ioanna SARIKAKI in the girls U13 category. Sally LOU/Filippa MIKELBORG from Denmark and Alexandra BITCHAVA/Angela NURE from Greece in the girls U15 category. Dimitris ALEXANDRIDIS/Giorgos SASSANIS and Dimitris GEORGALLIDIS/Nikos ANGELIDIS also from Greece in the boys U13 category. Denmark’s Vilage BERGHOLT/Gustav HOYSLETT and Georgia’s Nikola CHKHARTISHVILI/Mate GABARASVILI in the boys U15 category.

The 3rd and penultimate day of the Europe Youth tournament in Loutraki provided exciting matches for table tennis fans. It was the first day of the individual events and it reached the medal matches creating lively interest. On the 27th of October in the Sport Camp gym the final pairs in the doubles of all categories were announced as well as the athletes in the category up to 13 years old who covered the medal positions. Host Greece has its own athletes everywhere. Under 13 Boys’ Doubles: Konstantinos ISAAKIDIS/Konstantinos ALEXOUDIS will face Denmark’s Emil HASSELBALCH/Malik SEVERINSEN in the final. Under 15 Boys’ Doubles: The gold medal match features two Greek doubles Ioannis KOUTRA/Ioannis KIOSELOGLOU and Theofanis-Giorgos MITKAS/Kostas FAKAROS. Under 13 Girls’ Doubles: Anna Fanouria MITKA and Elpida TASIOU will meet Denmark’s Andrea GREGERSEN/Chelinda VOONG in the final. Under 15 Girls’ Doubles: Anastasia CHKHARTISHVILI/Tekla LIPARTELIANI of Georgia will face Vasiliki BOULA/Stella MAVROMATAKI of Greece in the final. In the singles event the women’s category of the age group has already advanced to the four-team stage due to the small participation and it is noteworthy that four Greek women entered the medal positions. Anna-Fanouria Mitka and Athanasia Goga qualified from one group while Aphrodite-Ioanna Sariskaki and Despina Demetriou qualified from the other. The Under 13 doubles finals will be held in parallel at 18:45 with the boys’ doubles on “TV” table 1 and the girls’ doubles on table 2. The Under 15 doubles finals are at 19:15 with the girls’ doubles on “TV” table 1 and the boys’ doubles on table 2. In tomorrow’s finals the program opens at 09:00 with knockout B Finals and includes a morning and afternoon session. At 13:30 the main singles (i.e. A Finals) begin and the finals are scheduled as follows: 19:45 for the Under 13 boys (Table 1) 19:45 for the Girls Under 13 (Table 2) 20:15 for the boys Under 15 (Table 2) 20:15 for girls Under 15 (Table 1) The last session on Friday included the doubles matches which offered wonderful moments. In the semifinals of the girls U13 Anna Fanouria Mitka and Elpida Tasiou eliminated Sophia Phili/Athanasia Goga in 3-1 games. Despina Dimitriou/Aphrodite-Ioanna Sarikaki took the first set against Andrea Gregersen/Chelinda Voong of Denmark but lost the next three for the final 3-1. In the girls U15 matches Vasiliki BOULA/Stella MAVROMATAKI overcame Sally LOU/Filippa MIKELBORG of Denmark 3-0 in sets. Anastasia CHKHARTISHVILI/Tekla LIPARTELIANI of Georgia overcame Alexandra BITKHAVA/Angela NOURE 3-1 in straight sets. In the mini cadet doubles Konstantinos ISAAKIDIS/Konstantinos ALEXOUDIS advanced to the final by beating Dimitris ALEXANDRIDIS/Giorgos SASSANIS 3-0 in sets. In the final they will meet the Danes Emil HASSELBALCH/Malik Severinsen who in an exciting match that thrilled the spectators overcame Dimitris GEORGALLIDIS/Nikos ANGELIDIS (11-8 in the 5th set) with 3-2 sets. Finally in the children’s doubles two Greek pairs will play for the first place. The 1st favorites Ioannis KOUTRA/Ioannis KIOSELOGLOU who were directly in the semifinals defeated the Danes Villads BERGHOLT/Gustav HOJSLET with 3-0 games. Kostas FAKAROS/Theophanis-Giorgos MITKAS have progressed with 2 wins and in the last 4 they overcame the 2nd favorite Georgians Nikolos CHKHARTISHVILI/Mate GABARASVILI. The losers of all semi-finals get the bronze medal as there are no matches scheduled for places 3-4.  

Greece 1 emerged victorious in the Under-15 Mixed Teams Event while Denmark claimed the title in the Under-13 category at the Loutraki tournament marking the conclusion of the opening stage of the 4th Europe Youth Series table tennis competition. In the Under-15 category Greece 1 defeated Georgia 5-3. In the Under-13 category Denmark narrowly outlasted Greece 1 with a 5-4 score in the final. Overall Greece performed admirably and had the potential to win two gold medals. The event featured two 3rd-place finishes with Greece 2 in both the Under-15 and Under-13 categories. Bronze medals and a trophy were awarded to all four teams aligning with the total number of participating entries. In the U15 category Greece 1 competed against Georgia twice within a few hours. In the morning the hosts secured a 6-3 victory while the final match was more intense. The score reached 4-3 with the provision that the match wouldn’t be officially clinched if Greece failed to reach 5-3 in the meantime. However they did reach that point. In the second game BITKHAVA secured a 3-0 set win finalizing the score (although the referees unofficially allowed the ninth game to continue due to its proximity to the end with KYOSELOGLU beating GABARASVILI 3-0). Christos tsarsitalidis and Roula Lambrinidis supported the team in the final. The Greece 2 team which secured 3rd place consisted of Kostas FAKAROS Theofanis-Giorgos mitkas Stella Mavromamataki and Angela NURE with coaching from Michalis ANGELIDIS Roula lambrinidis and Pavlos Telopoulos. The younger division’s team event finals were even more thrilling. Local athlete Sophia PHILI participated and demonstrated remarkable performance despite her inexperience in such matches. The outcome was decided in the details and GRÖGERTSEN with a narrow margin in the 5th set secured a 5-4 victory bringing Denmark the trophy. The Denmark team was coached by Laurits Jelsbak thomsen and Ida Boending Schoesler. Coach THOMSEN expressed his thoughts on the U13 team’s success and the experience at the Greek Open. “The final was a very tough and close match. We had previously faced the Greek team in the group with the same score. They have skilled players and it was a difficult match but we managed to win in the end. It was a great experience ” he commented. Regarding the decision to play all the team matches in the team competition he stated “I think it was great for all the athletes to play all the team games. Initially we thought the games would be played until one team reached five wins. However we saw that all nine games were to be played in the group. It was beneficial from a competitive perspective and for the athletes’ experience. They’ve already played many matches at the international tournament level so the change in the system was really good.” Greece 2 who secured 3rd place included Nikos Angelidis Dimitris GEORGALLIDIS Despina DEMETRIOU and Aphrodite-Ioanna SARIKAKI coached by Michalis ANGELIDIS and Kostas DIMITRAKOPOULOS. Greece 3 finished in 4th place with Anastasios FOUSEKI Konstantinos ISAAKIDIS Athanasia GOGA and Elpida TASIOU led by coach Anita HATSATRIAN. The award presentation was carried out by the President of the Hellenic Table Tennis Federation (E.F.O.O.Epa.) Kostas PAPAGEORGIOU for the U15 category winners and the General Secretary Xenia STATHI for the U13 category winners. Throughout the first two days of the Open the national men’s coach Kostas VATSAKLIS.  Detailed results of the final Greece 1 – Georgia 5-3  Giannis Koutra/Vassiliki Boula-Nicolo Tskartisvili/Anastasia Tskartisvili 3-1 (11-7 12-10 14-16 11-9) Boula-Tekla Lippartelliani 3-0 (13-11 11-5 11-4) Kutra-Mate Gabarasvili 3-0 (11-6 11-3 11-3) Alexandra Bitkhava-An. Tskartishvili 0-3 (5-11 6-11 6-11) Giannis Kyoseloglou-N. Tskartisvili 2-3 (11-8 7-11 9-11 11-3 10-12) Boula-An. Tskartisvili 2-3 (8-11 11-3 13-11 3-11 9-11) Koutra-N. Tskartishvili 3-2 (9-11 11-7 11-6 9-11) Bitchava-Lipartelliani 3-0 (12-10 11-6 11-3) Greece 1 – Denmark 4-5 Konstantinos Alexoudis/Anna-Fanuria Mitka-Malik Severinsen/Celinda Vung 3-2 (11-9 11-5 9-11 2-11 11-8) Alexoudis-Emil Hasselback 3-2 (11-8 2-11 4-11 11-6 11-5) Mitka-Andrea Gregertsen 3-0 (11-8 11-6 11-6) Sophia Fili-Vung 0-3 (6-11 2-11 8-11) Spyros Fousekis-Severinsen 1-3 (8-11 12-10 2-11 6-11) Mitka-Vung 3-1 (7-11 12-10 11-6 11-3) Alexoudis-Severinsen 1-3 (6-11 8-11 13-11 13-11 10-12) Fusekis-Hasselback 0-3 (4-11 4-11 7-11) Fili-Gregerchen 2-3 (10-12 11-9 11-6 5-11 9-11)

The international tournament for young players part of the ETTU Europe Youth Series got underway today Wednesday 25/10 in Loutraki Korinthia featuring mixed teams in the U13 and U15 categories. After the first two rounds of the team competition Denmark and Greece 1 lead with 2 wins each. In each category there are four entries and the top two teams from the groups will compete for the gold medal on Thursday at 16:30 GMT. The Greek Open organized by the Greek federation with ETTU support will run until Saturday 28/10. It marks a significant moment for the Greek federation as it hosts a European junior tournament for the first time since the 1987 European Youth Championships. Despite the limited participation the event holds great importance. The most important aspect is that all the young players have the opportunity to participate in a good number of matches and they have started their efforts with high spirits. In the U13 category Greece 1 has established a strong position at the top. The team consisting of John KOUTRA John KIOSELOGLOU Vasiliki BOULA and Alexandra BITCHAVA secured two victories both with a score of 7-2 accumulating 14 points. They will face Georgia next and prepare for the final. Greece 2 with Kostas FAKAROS Theofanis-Giorgos MITKAS Stella MAVROMAMATAKI and Angela NOURE lost to Greece 1 in the morning and narrowly lost 5-4 to Georgia in the late afternoon. While the hopes for qualification remain for Greece 2 they will need a convincing win over Denmark tomorrow. In the standings Greece 1 leads with 14 points followed by Georgia with 9 points Denmark with 7 points and Greece 2 with 6 points. “We are very happy because this is the first time a European tournament for younger age groups is being held in Greece. We are doubly happy because the tournament is taking place in Loutraki very close to the local Poseidon club where my brother Panagiotis and I work. The two athletes of Greece 1 in the U15 the locals KOUTRA and KIOSELOGLOU have emerged ” emphasized Greece 1 coach Christos TSARSITALIDIS. He added “Apart from the two boys from the host city it’s of special importance that both girls come from the region. BOULA is from Chios and BITCHAVA is from Patras. We started off very well with two 7-2 victories. We showed higher quality and efficiency. On Thursday we aim for another win in the group and ultimately the top spot in the final.” Today’s results in the U15: Greece 1 – Greece 2 7-2 Georgia – Denmark 4-5 Greece 1 – Denmark 7-2 Georgia – Greece 2 5-4 Denmark had a successful first day in the U13 team event with victories. They faced two teams from the host country defeating Greece 2 with a score of 7-2 in the morning and narrowly defeating Greece 1 with a score of 5-4 in the afternoon. They are leading with 12 points and have virtually secured the top spot. The second-place team in the single group will be determined with a clash between Greece 1 (Konstantinos ALEXOUDIS Spyros FOUSEKIS Anna-Fanouria MITKA Sophia FILI) and Greece 2 (Dimitris GEORGALLIDIS Nikos ANGELIDIS Despina DEMETRIOU Aphrodite-Ioanna SARIKAKI) who are tied with 10 points. Greece 3 (with Anastasios FOUSEKIS Konstantinos ISAAKIDIS Athanasia GOGA Elpida TASIOU) is in the fourth position with 4 points and will conclude their effort in the third round. Today’s results in the U13: Denmark – Greece 2 7-2 Greece 1 – Greece 3 6-3 Denmark – Greece 1 5-4 Greece 2 – Greece 3 8-1

Greece specifically Loutraki in Korinthia continues to be a part of the Europe Youth Series 2023 organized by the European Table Tennis Union. This charming tourist town hosts the fourth Open of the year following those in Croatia Serbia and the Czechia with the hope of making its own mark. The tournament is scheduled from Wednesday October 25 to Saturday October 28 at the Sport Camp sports facility. It’s open to young athletes from across Europe aged up to 13 and up to 15 and features team (mixed teams) singles and doubles events. This is a special moment for the Greek federation as they are organizing junior competitions on a pan-European scale for the first time in decades. There are 37 final entries from three countries. In any case it’s a challenge for the HTTF (Hellenic Table Tennis Federation) to ensure a successful organization in this new endeavor. Apart from Greece Georgia and Denmark will also have athletes competing in Loutraki. The first two days will be dedicated to the team event with the following two days dedicated to singles and doubles. The games kick off tomorrow Wednesday at 09:00 with the start of the Under 13 team event followed by the Under 15 team event at 11:30. The first-placed teams will be determined on Thursday afternoon at 16:30. On Friday the youngest cadets will be the first to compete beginning at 09:00 with the singles groups. At 09:25 the women’s age group will begin followed by the boys at 09:50 and the girls at 10:40 all for the first round of the singles. In the evening of the same day starting at 6:00 p.m. the doubles competition will commence with a knockout system in place from the start. The matches on the fourth and final day start at 09:00. The day begins with a match for the Under 15 boys at 09:00 followed by table matches in all categories. The individual finals are scheduled for the evening session. At 6:45 p.m. the Under 13 doubles for male and female athletes take place followed by the Under 15 doubles at 7:15 p.m. The Under 13 boys’ and girls’ singles begin at 7:45 p.m. and the Under 15 singles start at 8:15 p.m. The games will be played on five tables set up on the taraflex of the gym with an additional four tables available in the training room known as “Iakovou Hall.” Live streaming has been arranged daily from table 1 the so-called show table and the production will be managed by a crew from Super TV Corinth channel.