Five medals won by young Romanian athletes in the Europe Youth Top 10 table tennis championship
Romanian athletes won five medals in the Europe Top 10 table tennis competition for juniors and cadets, which brought together the best of the continent's youth in Tours, France, according to Agerpres. The young athletes won two gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.
In the Under-19 men’s event, Iulian Chiriță won gold with 17 points, followed in the rankings by Italy's Andrea Puppo (16 points) and France's Hugo Deschamps (16 points). On Sunday, in the last three rounds, Chiriță defeated Swiss Mauro Scharer 4-1, Hungarian David Szantosi 4-0, and Czech Simon Belik 4-1.
In the Under-15 event, Bianca Mei-Roșu won the gold medal (17 points), beating French Leana Hochart (15 points) and Alesia Sferlea (15 points). Mei-Roșu had three victories on Sunday, in matches against German Josephina Neumann, 4-0, Belgian Lilou Massart, 4-3, and Leana Hochart, 4-1.
Alesia Sferlea also managed three wins, scoring 4-1 against German Eireen Kalaitzidou, 4-2 against Leana Hochart, and 4-3 against Portuguese Mariana Santa, and taking home a bronze medal.
In the women's Under-21 event, former champion Elena Zaharia finished second (with 17 points) after two wins on Sunday, scoring 4-0 against Belgium's Sara Devos and 4-3 against Poland's Anna Brzyska. Her only loss of the competition came against Croatia's Hana Arapovic, 1-4, who took gold with 17 points.
Bronze went to Ioana Sîngeorzan (16 points), who won her matches against Portuguese Matilde Pinto 4-0, and Hana Arapovic 4-1, losing to German Mia Griesel 0-4.
In the Under-19 men’s event, Andrei Istrate came fourth (15 points) and Dragoș Bujor was sixth (13 points).
Istrate had two wins, 4-2 over Puppo and 4-1 over Szantosi, losing to Croatian Borna Petek 3-4, while Dragos Bujor also managed two wins, 4-2 with Czech Adam Stalzer, and 4-3 with Petek, losing to Andrea Puppo 2-4.
Camelia Mitrofan took 10th place (with 10 points) in the women’s Under-19 event, as she defeated Sara Devos 4-1, but lost to German Naomi Pranjkovic 0-4, and Polish Anna Brzyska 1-4.
At last year's competition, Romania finished with four medals - one gold, two silver, and one bronze.
(Photo source: The Romanian Federation of Table Tennis)
