Following an impressive performance, 15-year-old compass-supported Görkem Öcal from Türkiye successfully advanced through the qualification stage of the men’s singles event at the European Championships.

In the main draw, he was eliminated in the round of 64 by Portugal’s João Geraldo.

Three compass-supported young players were selected by their national federations to compete at the European Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 11 to 18 October: Görkem Öcal and Sweden’s Siri Benjegård, both born in 2011, and Italy’s Danilo Faso, born in 2010.

Of the three, Görkem was the only player to qualify for the singles main draw. In the group stage, he defeated Iceland’s Ingi Rodriguez 3:2, recovering from a 0:2 deficit to win three consecutive games (11:7, 11:6, 11:6).

“I was very nervous during the first match,” he admitted. “The atmosphere made me a bit anxious at first, but I quickly pulled myself together.”

Görkem’s second encounter was against Portugal’s Tiago Abiodun, who had recently won the European Youth Top 10 in the U19 category. However, the 15-year-old gave the U19 champion little chance, securing a convincing 3:0 victory.

“This was Görkem’s first appearance at the European Championships at senior level, and I am very proud of his performance,” commented Görkem’s father and coach, Gökmen Öcal. “Following his development and being alongside him on his journey brings me so much happiness.”

In the opening round of the main draw, the round of 64, Görkem faced another Portuguese opponent, João Geraldo, who prevailed in four straight games (4:0).

“Overall, I am very pleased with my performance at these championships and want to thank everyone who has supported me.”

Danilo Faso made a strong start by defeating Finland’s Aleksi Räsänen 3:1. In his second qualification match, however, he lost 0:3 to England’s Liam Pitchford, a former world No. 12.

“It was a bit of a pity for me because I had trained very well and felt in good shape, but I was ill throughout the week before the tournament,” Danilo explained afterwards.

“Anyway, I played a good first match and secured a nice win over Räsänen, but I have some regrets about the loss against Pitchford. I was leading in all three games and had some game points, but I was unable to finish the job.

He is a very experienced player, though, so he probably made better decisions than me at the crucial moments. At the same time, I know that I was not at my physical best, and perhaps I paid the price for that.”

Siri Benjegård lost both matches on her debut at a major senior championship.

In her opening match, she suffered a 1:3 defeat against Ukraine’s Anastasiya Dymytrenko.

“I think the match went quite well despite my loss,” Siri reflected afterwards. “She is a strong player and eventually won the group, but I did the right things. I played offensively and served well.”

In her second match, Siri lost 0:3 to Romania’s Bianca Mei-Rosu.

“Still, it was a cool experience to make my debut at the European Championships, and it was fun to play in such an arena.”

From 7 to 11 October, the JOOLA Europe Youth Series held its sixth and final tournament of the year. Following events in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Latvia and Serbia, the series concluded in Plzeň, in western Czechia.

Two compass-supported players competed in the tournament: Sweden’s Joel Isaksson and Switzerland’s Elina Hu.

Joel enjoyed an excellent start, winning the boys’ U15 team competition alongside Tamas Larsson, born in 2014.

The team format consisted of two singles matches and one doubles match, with each individual game contributing one point to the overall team score.

Joel and Tamas won all five of their group-stage matches convincingly. In the semi-finals, they defeated Germany 9:1 before securing the title with a 10:3 victory over Austria in the final.

Joel won all his matches, dropping just one game across the seven team encounters.

That game came against Poland’s Olaf Glanert, who subsequently gained revenge in the singles quarter-finals, defeating Joel 3:1.

Elina Hu, born in 2016, successfully reached the knockout stage of the U15 competition despite facing opponents up to five years older than herself.

In the group stage, she recorded two 3:2 victories and one defeat, finishing second in her group and securing a place in the knockout rounds. There, she was eliminated in the round of 64 by Portugal’s Lara Monteiro.

Elina also advanced from her group in the U13 competition. In the knockout stage, she defeated Poland’s Maja Lakomy 3:1 and Germany’s Svenja Hepp 3:0 before losing a closely contested semi-final against compatriot Emily Wu in three straight games (10:12, 10:12, 9:11).

“Overall, Elina played well,” said her father and coach, Jiashun Hu. “However, she still needs to improve her determination, endurance and concentration. In the semi-final against Emily, who is two years older, Elina remained competitive until the end of each game, losing every one by just two points.”