compass supported players won four out of four gold medals at the U13 European Championships in Bucharest, Romania, which ended on 26th May. Görkem Öcal from Turkey was the tournament’s most successful player, winning both the singles and mixed doubles events. Sweden’s Siri Benjegård took gold in the singles. Jeffrey Wei also won gold with Germany in the team event. And in the team event, Ladimir Mayorov and Sascha Malov took silver.

Görkem Öcal’s two gold medals made Turkey the most successful nation at the European Youth Championships. This has never happened before. Siri Benjegård’s victory was also historic. Sweden has not had a female singles champion on the European youth stage since 1965.

In the singles, Görkem won both his group matches 3:0. He then beat Viktor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) in straight sets and Volodymyr Nevizhyn (Ukraine) 3:1. In the round of the last eight, Görkem defeated Onur Guluzade of Azerbaijan 3:1 and Quentin Sandona of France 3:1 in the semi-finals. In the final he played Lukas Wang from Germany and again Görkem won 3:1 – 12:10, 11:7, 5:11, 11:2.

“Görkem came to the tournament with very strong motivation,” says Bogdan Pugna, compass expert coach, who works closely with Görkem and was present at the tournament in Bucharest. “He really wanted to win the tournament. He knew that he had to calm down sometimes, so that his eagerness did not impose his own game. But he managed it very well with a very variable game, changing the spin in the ball and also the placement and speed.”

In the mixed doubles, Görkem teamed up with compatriot Ela Su Yönter. They came close to losing to Sweden’s Emil Ellermann and Siri Benjegård, but came back from 0:2 down to win 11:8 in the fifth game.

They then had an easier time in the final, beating Moravek/Marsickova of the Czech Republic 3:2, but this time they were in control. They led 2:1 and won the decider 11:5.

Siri Benjegård also qualified from her group without any problems in the singles. In the knockout stage she defeated Kira Aeberhard (Germany) 3:1, Lucja Kobosz (Poland) 3:0 and Albane Rochut (France) 3:0. In the semi-finals, Siri met compass player and friend Lizett Fazekas from Hungary, who is two years younger than her. Siri won in straight games to set up a final against Eva Lam of France. Siri won all but one of her matches against Lam, including the final of the U11 event at Euro Minichamps 2022. But it was Lam who won the last time they met, with the Frenchwoman taking a comfortable 2:0 lead in Bucharest.

“I played the wrong way against her at the beginning,” Siri said afterwards. “In the third game I started to change the tempo of the ball, not only kicking but also making offensive pushes quite often”.

This gave Siri the space to dominate the rallies and the last three games were all hers – 11:4, 11:9, 11:8.

“Winning is very cool and I am very happy,” said the 12-year-old. “I didn’t play at my best in the final but to still win gold feels great!”

Bogdan Pugna saw some parallels between the two newly crowned U13 European Champions: “They acted mature for their age in crucial moments and both managed to dominate their opponents. Both of them will be very interesting to follow at the next level, the U15 level. In Bucharest, they both showed good qualities in their game and also managed to show their strong winning attitude, which is important for anyone who wants to grow at the top level”.

compass supported players born in 2013 also won medals in the singles – Lizett Fazekas and Ladimir Mayorov.

Ladimir was the best player in the Spanish team that reached the final of the mixed team event. Ladimir was the hero of the match for Spain in the semi-final against hosts Romania when he defeated David Toro in the decider after being down 0:2 and then turning the match around 11:8, 11:8 and 11:5. In the final, all five matches were not played, so Ladimir did not play a singles match. Overall, he had an impressive record, winning six out of seven singles matches and six out of seven mixed matches.

In the singles knockout stage, Ladimir defeated Adam Stachowiak of Poland (3:1), Rodrigo Andrade of Portugal (3:1) and Noah Tessier of France (3:1). In the quarter-finals, Mayorov was involved in an exciting battle with Ondrej Moravek of the Czech Republic. The Spanish talent, born in 2013, was down 1:2 but turned the match around by winning the last two games 12:10 and 16:14! In the semi-finals, Ladimir lost 1:3 to Germany’s Lukas Wang.

“Ladimir showed once again what a good understanding of the game he already has and his ball security and variability are excellent for his age,” commented compass expert coach Oliver Alke.

compass supported Lizett Fazekas stunned the experts at last year’s U13 European Championships by winning a medal in the singles for players born up to 2010, which is three years older than Lizett. This year Lizett took bronze again after losing in straight games to the eventual champion Siri Benjegård of Sweden. On her way to the semi-finals, Lizett beat Nadalia Ionascu of Romania 3:0 in the knockout stage. She then beat Laura Marsickova of the Czech Republic 3:1 and Enya Hu of Switzerland 3:1 in the quarter-finals.

In the mixed doubles, Lizett and her compatriot Simon Zsigmond reached the quarter-finals after beating Seung Jin Chen/Jasmin Rebecca Chue of Austria and Silas Stalder/Michelle Wu of Switzerland in straight sets. In the round of the last 16, the Hungarian team defeated Filip Nagy/Bianka Bacsova of Slovakia 3:1 before losing to the eventual winners Görkem Öcal/Ela Su Yönter of Turkey in the quarter-finals. At 1:1, the third game, which Fazekas/Zsigmond lost 10:12, proved decisive. The fourth game ended 3:11.

Lizett Fazekas was also successful in the team competition as she was the leading figure of the Hungarian team which finished fifth after beating Turkey 3:1 and Poland 3:0 in the 5-8 qualifying matches. Hungary finished second behind Germany in the second group stage, beating Azerbaijan 3:2 and Bulgaria 4:1, but losing 4:1 to Germany in the group final, where Lizett suffered her only singles defeat of the tournament against Anna Walter. In total, Lizett won five singles matches in the team competition. In doubles, she and Simon Zsigmond won four and lost three.

“Lizett had an injury before the championships and took a longer break for the first time, so she achieved an absolute top result,” said compass expert coach Evelyn Simon. “When you are out for a month, you have to find your way back and that is why I find the confirmation of last year’s third place really outstanding”.

Jeffrey Wei, born in 2012, won a team gold medal for Germany, although he did not play in any of the matches. However, he certainly roared at his teammates and was an important part of the team spirit that led to the gold medal.

In the singles, Jeffrey failed to qualify for the knockout stage, finishing third and last in his group. In the same group was Joel Isaksson from Sweden, who finished second. In the knockout stage, Joel beat England’s Dimitar Dimitrov 3:1. In the next round of the last 32, Joel lost to Andrej Brece of Slovakia. The young Swede, born in 2012, was leading 2:1 but lost 9:11 in the fifth and deciding game.

Sascha Malov from Spain was part of the team that won the silver medal. He contributed 1 win and 2 losses  in the first group stage of the team event. In the singles event, he lost to Nolan Johnston of France in the first round of the knockout stage.

Still important experiences for the three youngsters, who all have the chance to qualify for next year’s edition of the tournament.

U13 European Championships