Danilo Faso reached the quarterfinals of the first-ever Europe Youth Smash, a fierce competition held in Malmö from 21 to 23 August.

Meanwhile, Joel Isaksson secured his first international singles title in the U13 category at the Joola Europe Youth Series in Riga.

Three compass-supported players had qualified for the Europe Youth Smash in Sweden in 2025: Danilo Faso (Italy), Görkem Öcal (Turkey) and Siri Benjegård (Sweden). Some compass alumni also participated, including Annett Kaufmann (Germany) and Flavien Coton (France).

The event took place in Malmö, Sweden and comprised two singles categories: U15 and U19, with 32 players in each category. The competition was fierce, with most of the top players from around the world present. The scoring system was different – each game went to seven points, with a golden point at six-all. At 3:3, the decider had to be won by a margin of two points.

Danilo Faso came third in his U19 group and did not qualify for the knockout stage. He performed well, though, achieving a win against Clement Laine from Portugal among other good performances.

“It was a high-level tournament with many excellent young players in both the U15s and U19s,”commented Danilo. “In the U19 group, I played against the World Junior Champion, Li Hechen, and the Japanese U17 Champion, Yoshiyama. It was a valuable experience.”

Danilo won his U15 group without any problems; among his three wins was one against Chinese player Chen Yizhou in four straight games. In the knockout stage, he defeated Germany’s Jonas Rinderer 4:1, having been the more consistent player.

In the quarterfinals, Danilo lost 2:4 to 15-year-old Chinese player Zhou Guanhong, the Asian champion for players born in 2010. Zhou ultimately finished second at the Europe Smash after losing the decider in the final against Lee Seungsoo of the Republic of Korea.

“I played very well and was level with Zhou in the beginning; it was 2:2 after four games. In the last two games, I became too passive and lost 2:4. But I feel I can beat him next time we meet.”

What was it like playing the games to seven?

“As someone who is quite a slow starter, I found it difficult to adjust. There’s no time to recover from missed points and mistakes. But, of course, that counts for everyone. It was an interesting new experience. Next time, I will know how to handle it better.”

Like Danilo, Görkem Öcal came third in his U19 group and topped his U15 group.

In the knockout stage, Görkem faced his compatriot, Kenan Kahraman. This time, Görkem struggled to find his rhythm and missed some opportunities that could have won him the match. Ultimately, he lost 2:4.

Siri Benjegård also faced some very skilful opponents and came last in her group in both the U19 and U15 categories. In the U19 category, she played well against Sayali Wani from India, who came second in the group. Siri won the first game and was leading in the third. However, Siri ultimately lost 1:4.

“I felt I was fairly evenly matched with her in the rallies, but I also felt that I lacked the stability and speed to beat her,” the 14-year-old commented afterwards.

In the U15s, Siri had no chance against the Korean player Heo Yerim, losing 0:4. She was not at all happy with her performance in this match.

Zhu Qihui of China, aged only 13, won the U15 girls’ event, losing only one game in the whole tournament — to Heo Yerim in the final.

compass alumni Annett Kaufmann defeated Zong Geman (China) 4:1 in a repeat of last year’s World Junior Championships singles final. However, Annett was surprisingly defeated by 14-year-old Heo Yerim in the quarterfinals. Flavien Coton also reached the quarterfinals. The 2008-born French talent overcame 18-year-old Chinese player Wen Ruibo, currently ranked 35th in the senior world rankings, in an impressive performance. In the quarterfinals, Flavian was defeated by Korean player Kim Gaon, 3:4, after being 1:3 down in games. The decider was a thriller, with Kim winning 8:6.

compass-supported Joel Isaksson performed successfully at the Joola Europe Youth Series in Riga from 20 to 24 August. The Europe Youth Series is a series of six youth tournaments organised by the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU), and this competition was the fourth of the season.

Isaksson, who was born in 2012, won four medals: gold in the U13 singles and doubles events, bronze in the U15 singles event, and silver in the U13 mixed teams event.

He became the match hero in the semi-finals in the teams event, winning the decisive match against Latvia. Sweden subsequently lost the final to Spain.

In the U13 doubles, Joel partnered compatriot Zac Hallén. In the final, the Swedes overcame Spain’s Alexander Malov and Javier Galan in straight sets.

In the U15s, Joel defeated Adam Stackoviak 3:1 in the quarter-finals, but then lost an intense five-game match against the top-seeded David Capanda of Serbia, 9:11 in the decider after leading 8:4 in the final game.

Joel made it to the very end in the U13 singles, though. He won 3:0 against Javier Galan of Spain in the quarter-finals and 3:1 against Giorgio Borghese of Italy in the semi-finals.

In the final, he played his good friend and compatriot Zac Hallén, who had overcome the top seed, Alexander Malov of Spain, in an earlier round. Joel was the stronger player in the final, winning 9:11, 11:7, 11:9, 11:7.

Euro Mini Champs (EMC) is a prestigious youth table tennis tournament in Europe. Many players who later became top-ranked stars started their international careers at EMC at a young age. The 19th edition took place from 29 to 31 August in Schiltigheim, France. There was one event for boys and one for girls born in 2012 and 2013, and one for those born in 2014 and later. In total, the four events attracted 254 boys and 187 girls from across Europe and Japan.

Compass-supported Alyssia Bataille, who was born in 2015, made it to the round of the last 16 in the event for those born in 2014 or later. She did this by defeating Giulia Escribano Monton from Italy in the first knockout stage, in which 32 players had qualified. In the next round, Alyssia lost to Elina Hu of Switzerland in straight games. Hu then advanced to the semi-final, where she was defeated by Kaja Gvorogal of Lithuania. Gvorogal later overcame Avelina Dirment Nunez 3:2 (11:1 in the decider) in the final. Alyssia ultimately finished in 10th place.

Among the boys born in 2012, compass-supported Jean Marin lost to Marcos Gomez of Spain 1:3 in the first knockout round (the round of the last 32). Jean ultimately finished in 17th place. Winner: Pietro Campagna, Italy. David Drobov from Ukraine won among the boys born in 2014, defeating his compatriot Mark Voronoi in the final.

The winner of the girls’ category (born in 2012) was Lisa Zhao from France.