From 25-27 August, the Balkan countries gathered in Novi Sad, Serbia, to compete at the U15 Balkan Championships. The championships consisted of a team event and individual events, and was organized by the Balkan Badminton Association and Badminton Association of Serbia.
The hosting team from Serbia defeated Turkey in the final; 3-0, and defended their title from last year. On their way to the title, they secured victories against Bulgaria, Romania and Greece.
And thanks to Sergej Lukic’s men’s singles gold and men’s doubles gold with Mihajlo Tomic, Serbia ended the tournament as the most winning nation.
''We are very pleased with the fact that we have defended Balkan Team U15 Champions title, and the way we have done it made us especially proud and happy. We managed to play better than Team Turkey which stands for one of the best and most succesfull European badminton countries in age group categories. Our players deserve a big round of applause for their performances in the Team Championships duels'', Serbia’s national coach Dragan Antic said in a brief statement.
The second most successful country was Turkey with a silver medal in the team event and three individual gold medals.
Team event:
1. Serbia, 2. Turkey, 3. Romania
Individual events
Men’s singles: 1. Sergej Lukic – Serbia, 2. Hasan Berkay Gunbaz – Serbia, 3. Mihajlo Tomic – Serbia and Nurullah Sarac – Turkey
Women’s singles: 1. Azra Kurutan – Turkey, 2. Adanur Demir – Turkey, 3. Aysegul Yemisen – Turkey and Michaela Zlatanova – Bulgaria
Men’s doubles: 1. Sergej Lukic and Mihajlo Tomic – Serbia, 2. Hasan Berkay Gungbaz and Nurullah Sarac – Turkey, 3. Petre Comaneanu and Mihnea Craciun – Romania, and, Vanja Raseta and Aleksandar Jovicic – Serbia
Women’s doubles: 1. Yasemen Bektas and CAnsu Ercetin – Turkey, 2. Azra Kurutan and Ayca Ozgur – Turkey, 3. Tanya Ivanova and Gergana Pavlova – Bulgaria, and, Carina Balasa and Maria-Despino Macau – Romania/Greece
Mixed doubles: 1. Emirhan Budak and Yasemen Bektas – Turkey, 2. Anil Tutal and Aysegul Yemisen – Turkey, 3. Samet Ozdemir and Edanur Demir – Turkey, and, Orcun Ozturk and Ayca Ozgur – Turkey