From 14th to 16th August, the Europe Youth Smash was played in Malmö, Sweden, with most of the world’s top youth players participating. Among the five compass-supported players attending, Görkem Öcal from Türkiye managed to reach the knockout stage in both U19 and U15, reaching the quarterfinals in the latter event.

Only three Youth Smash tournaments are being held in 2026 – in Singapore, Malmö and China (9th–11th October). It is the highest tier in the World Table Tennis youth series and attracts an even stronger field than the Youth World Championships, since at the World Championships each country is only allowed to enter two players in each category, while at a Youth Smash the world ranking determines the entries. For example, China had four players in each of the four singles categories – U15 and U19 for both girls and boys. Another special feature of a Youth Smash is that each game is played to seven points, including a decisive so-called golden point at 6:6.

Five compass-supported players participated – Görkem Öcal, Türkiye (both U19 and U15), Danilo Faso, Italy (U19), Siri Benjegård, Sweden (U15 and U19), Ladimir Mayorov (U15), while Joel Isaksson received a wildcard in U15 as a representative of the host nation.

Görkem was the most successful player from Team compass. In the U19 group stage, he managed to defeat Danilo and Thitaphat Preechayan of Thailand, which qualified Görkem for the knockout stage. Danilo also overcame Preechayan, and the Italian defeated former compass-supported player Emanuel Otalvaro from Colombia in an impressive performance. Despite his two wins, however, Danilo did not qualify for the knockout stage.

Görkem did, and in the round of 16 he lost in straight games to 16-year-old Chinese player Tang Yiren, who is one year his senior.

In U15, Görkem managed to win his group after victories against Hubert Kwiecinski (Poland), Lukas Wang (Germany) and Motijejus Adamonis (Lithuania). In the knockout stage, he defeated France’s Noah Tessier 4:2.

“I got off to a poor start in both the first and third games,” Görkem said after the match. “Then I decided to be more alert at the beginning of the following games.”

The decision paid off. Görkem won the final three games 7:6, 7:4, 7:4.

In the quarterfinals, Görkem lost to China’s Chen Yizhou in a thrilling seven-game match.

“It was a tough, even match. I played well even though I lost in the end. In the seventh game I got off to a bad start, so I could not put pressure on him. He has pimples on the backhand side and is very good in the short game. But I lost 0:3 the last time I played him, so next time I will beat him.”

Ladimir Mayorov also managed to reach the knockout stage by defeating Quentin Sandona (France) and Spyros Sarigiannidis (Luxembourg) in the group. “Ladi”, one or two years younger than all of his opponents, lost in straight games to the 14-year-old group winner Xu Minghao.

In the knockout stage, Ladimir lost 0:4 to China’s 14-year-old Chen Yizhou in the round of 16.

“Both Chinese players I lost to play with a lot of power,” Ladimir commented. “It taught me that I need to become physically stronger to be able to generate similar power myself.”

In the U15 boys’ category, Joel Isaksson defeated the USA’s Jaden Jia in a strong performance, but lost clearly against Ukyo Kobayashi (Japan) and Chen Kai-Cheng (Chinese Taipei), which meant he did not advance to the knockout stage.

Among the girls, Siri Benjegård, like Görkem, managed to win her group after victories over former compass-supported Lizette Fazekas (formerly representing Hungary, but representing Croatia since the beginning of 2026) and Yana Zhadzko (Belarus). Siri lost to Du Hanjing from China, who then lost to Fazekas. However, since Siri defeated Fazekas in straight games, she finished as the winner of the group. In the knockout stage, she led 2:1 and was level at 4:4 against China’s Sun Xiaowei, but eventually lost 2:4 in games.

“I made two mistakes at 4:4 in the fourth game which maybe cost me the match, but overall I felt I held my own well in the rallies,” Siri commented.

Besides competing in U19 and U15 at the Europe Youth Smash, she also received a wildcard to compete in the women’s singles main event, where she had the opportunity and honour of playing Wang Yidi from China, one of the best players in the world. Siri reached 6:6 in the first game but eventually lost 0:3 – 6:11, 1:11, 4:11.

Looking at the Youth Smash event in Malmö from a broader perspective, Asia appears to have a bright future. Japan won the U19 boys’ event through 16-year-old Ryuusei Kawakami, while China won the U19 girls’ event through 15-year-old Jiang Yiyi. The U15 boys’ title was captured by Korea’s 15-year-old Lee Seungsoo, while among the girls, 14-year-old Japanese player Cocona Muramatsu was the strongest, defeating compatriot Miku Matsushima (13) in the semifinal and compatriot Kokomi Ishida (14) in the final.