With 30 June, the Badminton Europe junior ranking season ends.  The final rankings have been published and saw the current European Junior Champions Viktor Axelsen and Carolina Marin topping the singles events.

Denmark’s biggest hope to follow in Peter Gade’s footsteps, Viktor Axelsen is on the top of the men’s singles ranking after a fantastic season. The 18-year-old already celebrated good results on the Superseries tournaments as he recently reached the semifinals of the 2012 Singapore Open. Axelsen has been on top of the rankings the whole season – so it is no surprise that he finishes the season on top. Emre Lale of Turkey and Lucas Corvee of France are number two and three.

Carolina Marin from Spain, currently number 28 on the world rankings, finishes the 2011/2012 season on top of the women’s singles rankings ahead of Neslihan Yigit of Turkey and Bulgaria’s rising star, Stefani Stoeva. The latter is also the current U17 European Champion. Yigit and Stoeva, born 1994 and 1995, are both title aspirants for the 2013 European Junior Championships.

Lucas Corvee and Joris Grosjean from France are topping the men's doubles ranking ahead of the Danish duo of Kasper Antonsen and Frederik Colberg. And in the women’s doubles it’s the sister pair of Stefani and Gabriela Stoeva of Bulgaria who proved to be the best pair of the season. Line Kjærsfeldt of Denmark and her compatriot Mette Poulsen, who is European Junior Champion in that category, are number three and four.

Line Kjærsfeldt grabbed the top position in the mixed doubles while Jim Middelburg and Soraya de Visch Eibergen from the Netherlands finishing the season as number two and three.

CLICK HERE to see the full European junior rankings of the 2011/2012 season

Photos by BadmintonPhoto