by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
Venue for proceedings was the Sports School in Vilnius, the traditional home for the tournament.
Additional to Lithuania, players travelled from Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Norway, Russia and Ukraine.
A most promising entry, it was one which pleased Rimgaudas Blaisa, the Honorary President of the Lithuanian Table Tennis Federation.
“Lithuania’s B. Balaisiene has trained a lot of champions and also many useful young players. They had the opportunity to test their skills against most capable players from other countries. It was a great place for both players and coaches to learn. It is important competitions for us. Coaches can check their level. Young athletes, fighting against capable foreign players, can assess their standard of play, how are they improving, how fast they are, what techniques they need to improve.” Rimgaudas Blaisa
Kornelija Riliskyte won the Cadet Girls’ Singles competition (Photo: courtesy of Lithuania Table Tennis Association)
The most successful players were the host nation’s Emilija Riliskyte who partnered Kornelija Riliskyte to Cadet Girls’ Team success before securing the Cadet Girls’ Singles title.
Notably Lithuania’s Kornelija Riliskyte won the Cadet Girls’ Team title in partnership with Emilija Riliskyte. Likewise there were two titles for Ukraine’s Andrii Grebeniak, he partnered Oleksandr Malov to Cadet Boys’ Team gold, prior to winning the Cadet Boys’ Singles title.
Cadet Boys’ Singles gold for Andrii Grebeniuk (Photo: courtesy of Lithuania Table Tennis Association)
Similarly and also from Ukraine, Veronyka Matiunino joined forces with colleague Anastasia Khachaturova to win the Mini Cadet Girls’ Team title, before being crowned the Mini Cadet Girls’ Singles champion.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ilia Koniukhov and Serafim Orlov enjoyed Mini Cadet Boys’ Team success; Ukraine’s Artem Ovchynnikov secured top prize in the Mini Cadet Boys’ Singles competition.
Cadet Boys’ Team medallists (Photo: courtesy of Lithuania Table Tennis Association)
Roll of Honour
Cadet Girls Team: 1. Lithuania (RILISKYTE Emilija, RILISKYTE Kornelija) 2. Russia (ZYRIANOVA Arina, MURZINA Margarita, KHURTSILAVA Ksenia) 3. Russia (PIKAROVA Iana, KOVRIGINA Anastasia) & Estija (MELNIKOVA Anastassia, REINOL Vitalia)
Cadet Boys Team: 1. Ukraine (GREBENIUK Andrii, MALOV Oleksandr) 2. Ukraine (YUNCHIK Valentyn, ZAVADA Mykyta) 3. Russia (ROZHKOV Mikhail, SHEVNIN Semen) & Russia (TIKHONOV Evgeny, NASONOV Bogdan)
Mini Cadet Boys’ Team: 1. Russia (KONIUKHOV Ilia, ORLOV Serafim) 2. Israel (SHUSHAN Itay, ALMOR Uri) 3- Lithuania (SISANOVAS Ignas, OBJEDKOV Nikita) & Russia (KAPUSTYANSKIY Grigory, NASANOV Nikolay)
Mini Cadet Girls’ Team: 1. Ukraine (KHACHATUROVA Anastasiia, MATIUNINA Veronyka) 2. Czech Republic (PISAROVA Katerina, SAZIMOVA Adela) 3. Lithuania (ABARAVICIUTE Gabija, STANKEVICIUTE Medeine) & Russia (LIPATOVA Daria, BOKOVA Aleksandra)
Cadet Girls Singles: 1. RILISKYTE Kornelija (Lithuania) 2. KOVRIGINA Anastasia (Russia) 3. MUSAJEVA Sabina (Latvia) & MURZINA Margarita (Russia)
Cadet Boys Singles: 1. GREBENIUK Andrii (Ukraine) 2. ISRAELI Tal (Israel) 3. VASILEV Miron (Russia) 4. SHEVNIN Semen (Russia)
Mini Cadet Boys Singles: 1. OVCHYNNIKOV Artem (Ukraine) KONIUKHOV Ilia (Russia) 3. ALMOR Uri (Israel) & SHUSHAN Itay (Israel)
Mini Cadet Girls Singles: 1. MATIUNINA Veronyka (Ukraine) 2. BURTSEVA Anna (Russia) 3. LIPATOVA Daria (Russia) & KHACHATUROVA Anastasiia (Ukraine)