The Butterflies Patrick Franziska and Britt Eerland fly to single gold in Istanbul
The 53rd European Junior Championships in Istanbul could not have finished more successful. On the final day of the biggest continental junior competition two Butterflies went right to the top in the singles: the German Patrick Franziska (Junior Boys) and the Dutch Britt Eerland (Junior Girls). On top of that the Butterfly juniors were also represented in two further wins of the title: the Dane Jonathan Groth (Junior Boys Doubles) and the French Celin Pang (Cadet Mixed). Altogether the impressive result of medals during the ten days tournament in Turkey adds up to four gold medals, seven silver medals and sixteen bronze medals.
In the king’s discipline, the junior boys single, Patrick Franziska had to fight hard to win 4:3 against Pavel Sirucek in the final. He is the successor of Quentin Robinot (France), who dropped out early this time. Additionally Franziska followed his training partner, the number three of the world, Timo Boll (Duesseldorf) who won the title twice during his years as a junior, with his gold medal. Franziska, the twice European Junior Top Ten winner and DTTL professional from Hanau, who also won the bronze medal together with Jan Zibrat (Slovenia) was really glad that he could win the desired title in his last year as a junior: “The final was very close and dominated by tactics. If I had lost the fourth set, it would have been very difficult for me. I lost the last two matches against him but I wanted to take revenge.” In his personal analysis of the tournament Franziska remained humble and self critical: “I didn’t really play convincingly during the whole tournament. Sometimes I was close to fall down the abyss but I always managed to turn things around somehow. Tactically I played very well and I never gave up.”
The Italian Leonardo Mutti also was one of the main favourites for the title in the cadet singles. The Italian, who also won bronze in the doubles, beat Jakub Dyjas from Poland in seven sets where he came back from 0:2 in sets when he was playing and fighting very well: “In the beginning I thought that I might lose, because it became critical when I was 2:0 down. But I stayed calm and tried to concentrate on my game and my strength. I am really happy about my second EC medal. These successes improve my self confidence especially in view of the Olympic Junior Games in Singapore, where I will play in August.” Noticable is also the third place of the German Butterfly Qiu Dang, who only lost to Mutti and can still play next year in the cadets: “I am very satisfied with reaching the semi-finals. Next year I want to improve and reach the final.”
Nobody expected Britt Eerland with her blond hair to fly so high in the junior girls singles, after the girl from the Netherlands didn’t play any national or international tournaments during the last months following an injury. The final of the Tamasu talents Eerland and Dora Madarasz from Hungary went right up to the deciding stage of the seventh set and Eerland couldn’t stop her tears of joy from running: “I am so happy about my success. I still can’t believe that I am European Champion. I played the best match ever in the final.”
The team tournament was dominated by two wins of the title from France (Junior and Cadet Boys) and Romania (Junior and Cadet Girls). The Butterfly teams didn’t win any gold this time but were represented in three finals with Germany (Junior Girls), Croatia (Junior Boys) and Russia (Cadet Girls). Germany, the youngest partner with a Butterfly on their chest since the 1st of July, won also silver with the girls and bronze with the boys, and cadet boys and girls. Altogether Romania was the most successful nation in Istanbul with six titles.
27 Medals for Butterfly at the European Junior Championships
Junior Boys Singles
1. Patrick Franziska GER
3. Jan Zibrat SVN
Junior Boys Doubles
1. Jonathan Groth DEN (with Hunor Szocs ROU)
3. Liam Pitchford ENG (with Gergely Perei HUN)
3. Patrick Franziska GER/Jan Zibrat SVN
Junior Girls Singles
1. Brigitte Eerland NED
2. Dora Madarasz HUN
3. Magdalena Szczerkowska POL
Junior Girls Doubles
3. Krisztina Ambrus HUN/Camelia Postoaca ROU)
3. Dora Madarasz HUN (with Cristina Hirici ROU)
Junior-Mixed
3. Magdalena Szczerkowska POL (with Robert Floras POL)
3. Arne Hölter GER (with Kathrin Mühlbach GER)
Cadet Boys Singles
3. Qiu Dang GER
Cadet Boys Doubles
2. Andréa Landrieu FRA (with Alexandre Robinot FRA)
3. Marton Szita HUN (with Tamas Lakatos HUN)
Cadet Girls Doubles
2. Laura Pfefer FRA (with Marina Berho FRA)
3. Céline Pang (with Alyssia Perin FRA)
3. Lea Rakovac HRV (with Mateja Jeger HRV)
Cadet-Mixed
1. Cèline Pang FRA (with Tristan Flore FRA)
2. Marton Szita HUN (with Irina Ciobanu ROU)
Junior Boys Team
2. Croatia
3. Germany
Junior Girls Team
2. Germany
Cadet Boys Team
3. Germany
Cadet Girls Team
2. Russia
3. Germany
4. Croatia
Photo: Marco Steinbrenner