Twelve-year-old Ladimir Mayorov won the U15 mixed title alongside his compatriot Renata Shypsha at the WTT Youth Star Contender in Podgorica, Montenegro, held from 17 to 19 October. The Spanish team beat France’s Quentin Sandona and Albane Rochut 3:1 in the final.

Ladimir and Renata’s path to triumph began with a quarter-final victory against Lee Seung-hoon of the Republic of Korea and his partner, Eva Lam of France. In the semifinals, the Spanish team defeated the French pair Noah Tessier and Lou-Anne Bocquet 3:1. In the final, they faced another French pair, Quentin Sandona and Albane Rochut, and won with scores of 11:6, 12:14, 11:5, 11:7.

“Ladimir and Renata demonstrated excellent coordination and teamwork,” commented Ladimir’s father and coach, Eduard Mayorov. “They defeated the current U15 European champions in the semi-finals and went on to beat another strong French pair in the final, showing a very high level of play.”

In the U19 singles event, Ladimir did not qualify from the group stage. Nevertheless, he played well.

In the U15 category, he lost to Sandona in the group stage, but overcame Milan Vucetic of Montenegro, which secured him second place and a spot in the knockout stage. There, he faced the 14-year-old Japanese star talent Soma Ono. Ladimir put up a good fight, winning the first game 11:9, losing the second 4:11, and winning the third 13:11 to go 2:1 up. However, the last two games went to Soma, who was relieved not to lose to a European two years his junior. The Japanese player went on to win the whole tournament.

“Ladimir was leading 2:1 and had several opportunities to finish the match,” reported Eduard Mayorov. “This shows he is already capable of competing on equal terms with top Asian players.
It was a demanding competition that gave Ladimir another valuable step in his international development”, Mayorov continued. “Ladimir showed a very solid performance throughout the tournament, playing with confidence and demonstrating an active attacking style — exactly the type of game we have been focusing on in training.”

In the U15 boys’ doubles, Ladimir partnered Louis Fegerl, who is also 12 years old, from Austria. The Spanish/Austrian combination made it to the semifinals, where they lost 1-3 to Korea Republic’s Ma Yeongjun/Ma Yeongmin.

Eduard Mayorov once more: “Overall, the tournament was successful and very positive. I saw clear improvements in Ladimir’s game, in terms of technique, mindset and tactics. His progress is clear and confirms that the work we are doing, with the support of sponsors and partners such as compass, Joola and the Spanish Federation, is moving in the right direction.”

compass-supported Görkem Öcal, aged 14, also participated in Podgorica. He won his qualification group in the U19 event, defeating France’s Nathan Lam — ranked in the top 10 in Europe in the U19 category — among others. An impressive victory!

In the first round of the knockout stage, Görkem defeated Robert Istrate of Romania, who was ranked almost 20 places above Görkem on the European U19 ranking list. Following these two successes, Görkem faced a compass alumnus, Emanuel Otalvaro from Colombia, in the quarterfinals, losing 7:11, 10:12, 7:11. Otalvaro finally reached the final, but lost there to Hung Che-Yen of Chinese Taipei in the fifth and decisive game, with a score of 8:11.

In the U19 doubles event, Görkem partnered with Austria’s Julian Rzhauschek. They defeated Otalvaro/Bedoya of Colombia 3:1 in the quarterfinals. They then lost to Lam/Pilard of France in the semifinal, with a score of 1:3.

Finally, in the U15 event, Görkem made it to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Sora Okada of Japan, who was one year younger. Okada went on to reach the final, where he lost to compatriot Soma Ono in straight games.

The Joola Europe Youth Series is organised by the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU).

In 2025, there will be a total of six such tournaments in six different countries: Croatia, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Latvia, Czechia and finally Serbia. At the competition in Czechia from 22 to 26 October, several players supported by compass reached the podium. Siri Benjegård of Sweden won the U15 singles, also defeating Adela Brhelova, who is supported by compass and hails from the host nation, in the final. Siri also won the mixed doubles event alongside her compatriot Emil Ellermann, and partnered with Alicia Enbom to win silver in the U15 team event.

Adela, who is only 12 years old, won the U15 team competition alongside her compatriot Laura Marsiková. Adela also came second behind Enya Hu of Switzerland in the U13 event.

compass-supported Swede Joel Isaksson reached the semifinal of the U15 team event with his compatriot Zac Hallén.

In the singles, Joel defeated Tomas Matuska from the host nation in straight sets in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he overcame Paul Flemming from Germany 3:1, but lost to his teammate Zac Hallén 10:12 in the decider.