compass player Danilo Faso came close to defeating one of China’s greatest youth talents in the U19 category at the WTT Youth Star Contender in Skopje, Macedonia, which took place from 3rd to 5th September. In the U15 category, Danilo made it to the top four.

In another WTT tournament in Croatia, compass-supported Adela Brhelova won the U13 category.

Danilo Faso, born in 2010, ultimately finished last in his U19 group, although he had the opportunity to top the group. Against the Chinese youth star Li Hechen, the four-time World Youth Champion who is one year older than Danilo, the young Italian was 6:3 and 8:7 up in the decider, but ultimately lost 9:11.

Danilo also had his chances in the other matches, but did not quite manage it.

In the U15 event, Danilo progressed from the group stage by defeating Zhou Kaien of China, Shouren Soman of India and David Jonoski of the host nation. In the knockout stage, Danilo overcame the left-handed and aggressive Sahil Rafat of India, having been down 1:2, but winning the last two games 11:4 and 11:6. In the quarterfinals, Danilo faced an Indian player for the third time in the tournament, this time Aditya Das, whom he overcame 3:1.

In the semifinals, Danilo met the fourth Indian player in this tournament. Ritvik Gupta has a difficult playing style, using pimples.

“Danilo is usually good against pimples, partly because I used them all my life when I played,” said Danilo’s father, Marco. “But he still lost, even though he was 2:1 and 5:3 up when the Indian player fought back strongly.”

Gupta won the last two games 11:6 and 11:8.

“Still a good tournament for Danilo,” concluded Marco Faso. “He maybe played his best table tennis ever against Li Hechen, and it was important preparation for the World Youth Championships, which will be held in Romania from 23rd to 30th November. He played well against many strong Asian players.”

compass-supported Görkem Öcal of Turkey made it to the knockout stage, where he lost a close five-game match against Zhou Kaien of China, the same player that Danilo defeated in the U15 group stage.

Team compass member Siri Benjegård lost all her matches except one, in the U15 mixed doubles pairing with Jan Mrugala of Poland.

Nevertheless, both Görkem and Siri gained valuable experience, as they competed against highly skilled opponents. Notably, Siri faced Heo Yerim, the standout player of the tournament who won both the U15 and U19 singles categories.

The tournament was dominated by Asian countries. Four of the ten titles were won by Korea Republic, three by Japan, two by China and one by India.

At the WTT Youth Contender Varazdin, which took place from 28th August to 3rd September, compass-supported Adela Brhelova of the Czech Republic achieved a convincing victory in the U13 singles event. Adela won all four of her group matches. In the knockout stage, she first defeated Yoana Kirilova of Bulgaria, and then won in straight games against Klara Rahotin of Slovenia in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal, the young Czech sensationally overcame the top seed, Lee Yeseo of the Republic of Korea, with a score of 11:8, 12:10 and 11:5. Lee is currently ranked 8th in the world in the U13 category.

And in the final, Adela won 3:2 with 11:7 in the decider against Zsófia Fegyver from Hungary.