Elina Hu second and Alyssia Bataille third in the Girls born 2015 event.
Those were the best results from compass supported players at the Euro Mini Champ’s 2026, which was played in Schiltigheim, a suburb of Strasbourg, 28-30 August.

About 250 boys and 170 girls from some 30 countries participated in the 2026 Euro Mini Champ’s, the number one competition in Europe for very young players, which has been arranged in Schiltigheim, Strasbourg, France, almost every year since 2005.
The 2026 edition was a jubilee, the 20th in the impressive tournament’s history.

For the first time the participating kids were divided into three event categories – born 2013, 2014 and 2015. The latter was clearly the biggest – gathering around as many players as the 2013 and 2014 categories together. The big thing with the Euro Mini Champ’s is that all players get to play a lot of matches, gain experience from an international tournament and encounter opponents from many other countries and table tennis cultures.

So the qualifying stages were three round robin groups (all against all) among the girls, and four among the boys. After this there was a knockout stage at all levels.

Among the compass supported players Elina Hu of Switzerland and France´s Alyssia Bataille got the best results. In the knockout stage, to which 32 of the Girls born 2015 event´s around 80 players had qualified, Elina defeated Johanna Gostiaux (France) and Dora Nagy (Romania), both in straight games. In the quarterfinals Elina had a close encounter with Türkiye’s Defne Üzümcü, a match that was very balanced and even until the middle of the fifth set, when the score was 4:5 from Elina’s perspective.

“From that moment on, Elina played very consistently, aggressively and with a lot of variation”, said Jiashun Hu, Elina´s father and personal coach. “She was more decisive at the right moments and eventually won the fifth set 11:5.”

The semifinal against Elena Frau from the host nation France went smoother – 3:1. And the final against Derin Mülazim from Türkiye started well for Elina, winning the first two games 11:5, 13:11. But then Derin managed to turn the match by taking the next three games 11:6, 11:7, 11:7.

“From the beginning, we knew it would be very difficult, because Elina did not play a lot with defenders. Nevertheless, she started very intelligently and played with a lot of variation and, above all, great patience. She managed to take a 2:0 lead.

Unfortunately, from the third set onwards, her opponent started attacking much more aggressively. This took Elina out of her rhythm, and she eventually lost the match.”

It was certainly a valuable learning experience for her.

“Despite the disappointment, Elina is very happy with the overall result and is highly motivated for the upcoming season.”

Also compass-supported Alyssia Bataille from France managed to reach the podium. In the knockout stage Alyssia defeated Lia Sitja (Spain), Gabriela Cechova (Czechia) and Melina Chkam (France), all in straight games. In the semis Alyssia had big trouble with Derin Mülazim in the first two games, losing 2:11, 1:11. The third Alyssia won 11:9 and it seemed she understood how to tactically play the strong opponent from Türkiye, who managed to win the fourth game though, with the tiniest margin, 12:10. And with that the match.

“Alyssia never plays this kind of defense game in a match”, Alyssia´s father Jérôme Bataille commented. “She sometimes plays it in training so in the middle of a match she had a lot of problems finding solutions and managing cut and soft balls from Derin.”

It took Alyssia two games to understand how to play, but this time it was a bit too late.

“She reacted well but she lacked a little success and luck at the end of the following games. But it’s sport and Alyssia now is going to work on how to play against choppers, so she is better prepared for such a match in the future.”

Also some players compass tested at the Summer Camp in Saarbrücken earlier in August achieved good results at the Euro Mini Champ’s. Arthur Xian Xiao (France) made it to the last eight in Boys born 2014, as did Luka He (Germany) in Boys born 2015. In Boys born 2014 French Hachim Tissafi Idrissi defeated Spain´s Daniel Casquero 3:2 in the quarterfinals, and then lost in the semis to Nicolae Bucur of Moldova in straight games. Also Emily Wu (Switzerland) made it to the last four to get a medal. She overcame Julia Cazac, Moldova, in straight games in the quarterfinals of Girls born 2014. In the semifinal Emily lost to Mehin Mirzabalayeva (Azerbaijan) 0:3.

Here are the winners (and the finalists) of the Euro Mini Champ’s 2026:

Girls
2013 Enya Hu, Switzerland (Michelle Wu, Switzerland)
2014 Mehin Mirzabalayeva, Azerbaijan (Kaja Tvorogal, Lithuania)
2015 Derin Mülazim, Türkiye (Elina Hu, Switzerland)

Boys
2013 Lucas Alexander, New Zealand (Reah Krol Shahar, Israel)
2014 Emre Akif Bucak, Türkiye (Nicolae Bucur, Moldova)
2015 Vladimir Filimon, Romania (Aiden Cepeda, Belgium)

25-31 August two WTT Youth Contenders were played, in Varazdin (Croatia) and Otocec (Slovenia). In the U15 event, compass-supported Jeffrey Wei defeated Alessandro Ausili, Italy, 3:1, and Noah Lebrasseur, France, 3:0 to reach the last 8. There Jeffrey lost to China’s Zhang Heliang in straight games.

In U19, Louis Fegerl, born 2013, played among opponents up to six years older, and made a very good performance to beat Ma Yeongjun of Korea Republic, and then lost in the round of the last 16 to Poland´s Jan Mrugala.

In the U17 event, both Jeffrey and Louis managed to reach the knockout stage, but there they lost in the first round, meaning the last 64.

compass-associated Taavi Samaraweera from Sri Lanka achieved strong results. Taavi lost in the quarterfinals in U13 and made it to the final in U11, losing to Gu Junchen of Singapore 1:3. In Otocec, Taavi made it to the semifinals in U13. He won the U11 event, defeating Maksim Peto of Serbia in straight games in the final.