Danilo Faso – silver medallist in U15 teams.
Görkem Öcal – silver medallist in U15 doubles.
Josi Neumann – bronze medallist in U15 doubles.
Three medals were won by supported players at the World Youth Championships (WYC), held in Cluj Napoca, Romania, from 23–30 November.

The competition opened with the team events, which were tight and full of surprises.

In the U19 boys’ category, Chinese Taipei defeated heavy favourites China in the quarterfinals, but then fell to India, who advanced to the final before losing to Japan. In the U19 girls’ event, China came close to losing to Japan in the final. Sachi Aoki won both of her singles, and Yuna Ojio led 2:0 before losing 11:13, 10:12 in the next two games, and finally 8:11 in the decider.

In the U15 team events, Japan’s girls overcame China and then Korea to win the title. Among the boys, Italy sensationally defeated China 3:1 in the semifinals. Compass-supported Danilo Faso beat both Zhou Guanhong and Yu Haiyang, emerging as Italy’s standout player.

In the final, however, Italy lost 2:3 to Chinese Taipei. Both Danilo and teammate Francesco Trevisan managed to defeat Chen Kai-cheng, but Cheng Min-Hsiu won both of his matches, and in the decisive contests between the teams ranked third, Chinese Taipei proved the stronger side.

“I am very satisfied with the team event,” Danilo said. “Winning a silver medal is important and a step up from last year when we took bronze. We beat both Japan and China, which are very good wins.”

The fact that Danilo won both of his matches against Japan (against Hiratsuka and Kobayashi) and also against China (Yu and Zhou) clearly proved that his level is already on par with the very best players of his age in Asia.

“Danilo was up 5:1 in the decider against Cheng Min-Hsiu, so he was close to winning two singles in the final as well,” said Danilo’s father and coach, Marco Faso. “Over the past two years, Danilo has won all his matches in the team events at the European Youth Championships and the World Youth Championships, and this was his only loss. He is very proud of what he has achieved for the team.”

In the singles event, Danilo defeated England’s Kacper Piwowar and Jan Mrugala of Poland in straight games. In the quarterfinal he met Zhou Guanhong, the 15-year-old Chinese player Danilo had beaten in the team event. This time he lost 1:4 – 11:9, 10:12, 4:11, 5:11, 15:17.

“I am disappointed since I knew I could beat him again,” Danilo said. “I was up 1:0 and had a game point for 2:0, which would have put him under pressure. Then he played better and won two games, and in the last one I was a bit unlucky.”

Zhou went on to reach the final, where he lost 2:4 to compatriot Yu Haiyang.

Danilo now ends his U15 career and steps into U17 and U19.

“It is a new challenge. I am ready and very happy for that!”

Görkem Öcal also secured a silver medal at the WYC. He and compatriot Kenan Kahraman reached the final of the U15 doubles event.

The long-established pairing began their path to the podium by defeating U15 mixed doubles winner Thitaphat Preechayan, who partnered Singapore’s Li Ki Ho. In the quarterfinals, they overcame Compass alumnus Emanuel Otalvaro of Colombia, pairing Lee Hong An of Malaysia, 3:2, after trailing 1:2 in games but rallying to win 11:9 and 11:5. In the semifinal, the Turkish team advanced via walkover against Japan’s Kenyu Hiratsuka/Soma Ono. In the final, they lost to China’s Yu Haiyang/Zhou Guanhong 4:11, 9:11, 5:11.

In the singles event, Görkem reached the last 16, losing to Chen Kai-cheng from Chinese Taipei in four straight games. Born in 2011, Görkem still has the chance to qualify for another World Youth Championships, which in 2026 will be staged in Bahrain.

Among the U15 girls, Josi Neumann also reached the quarterfinals in the U15 singles.

Josi defeated Lana Benko of Croatia (4:2) and Abigail Yu of the USA (4:0) before losing to top-seeded Chinese player Zhu Qihui 1:4 in the last 8.

“Josi played aggressively at the start and missed a lot,” said national coach Jie Schöpp to Tischtennis.de, the German federation’s website. “In the third game she played with more control.”

In the team event, Germany’s girls reached the quarterfinals, losing 1:3 to India. But after two top-8 finishes, Josi finally secured a medal in doubles, pairing with Koharu Itagaki. The German duo defeated Vania Yavari of Iran and Daisy Xie of Australia 3:1, and in the quarterfinals beat Malaysia’s Dania Mohd/Cheah Yu Zheng 11:5 in the decider. In the semifinals, Japan’s Kokomi Ishida/Cocona Muramatsu proved too strong – 5:11, 8:11, 8:11.

Compass-supported Steven Moreno of Puerto Rico faced a tough draw, meeting Li Hechen of China in the first round of the U19 singles event. Steven, only 15 years old and turning 16 at the end of the year, played superbly, winning the first, third and fourth games and leading 3:1. Still, Li managed to turn the match around, winning 4:3 with an 11:9 decider!

In doubles (with compatriot Enrique Rios) and mixed doubles (with Edmarie Leon), Steven lost in the round of 16.

compass alumni Flavien Coton and Emanuel Otalvaro also performed strongly. Flavien reached the quarterfinals in the U19 event, defeating Brazil’s Lucas Romanski and Alan Kurmangaliyev of Kazakhstan, but losing 3:4 after leading 3:2 to Japan’s Ryuusei Kawakami.

Emanuel Otalvaro likewise reached the last 8, losing in the U15 quarterfinals to Ma Yeongmin of the Republic of Korea 2:4.

“We are very happy and proud of the players performing at such a high level,” compass managing director Daniel Zwickl summarized. “The competition is extremely strong, and on the world stage all three players have shown that they are right at the top when competing against the best Asian players.”

“Special congratulations go to Danilo, who has had an outstanding tournament, especially his two wins against China in the team semifinal. Also a very good result from Görkem, earning a medal for Türkiye, which can give both him and the country a positive boost moving forward.

And once again Josi managed to win another excellent medal, and I also want to highlight her singles performance. She has had a challenging year but always shows up with fighting spirit and a strong desire to compete.”