Yesterday, Ibiza put the finishing touch to two weeks of intense international competition by crowning the top finishers in each modality in the European Under-15 Championship held at the sa Blanca Dona sports center. The great celebration of continental badminton concluded this Saturday after the dispute over the finals and the awarding of medals, with Ibizan Yaidel Gil ascending to third place on the podium in the men’s individual category.
The Spanish accent was not lacking on the podiums, with the bronze medals awarded to the player from Ibiza and the mixed doubles to María Luisa Jiménez and Mario Rodríguez.
The president of Badminton Europe, Joao Matos, the president of the Consell d’Ibiza, Vicent Marí, the Minister of Sports, Salvador Losa, the mayor of Vila, Rafael Ruiz, the president of the Spanish Badminton Federation, Andoni Azurmendi, and the President of the Balearic Badminton Federation, Silvia Riera, were in charge of handing out the medals and lowering the curtain on the triple international event.
The Sa Colla de Labritja Cultural Association staged a traditional ball pagès that brought the attendees to their feet during the closing day, where the favorites met the predictions on the track: the men’s singles title went to the Portuguese Tiago Berenguer, who started as top seed and beat Frenchman Arthur Tatranov 21-14 and 21-11 in 29 minutes.
The gold of the women’s individual went to the Turkish Aleyna Korkut, second favorite. Of course, she had to make an effort against the French Leana Laurent, who sold face defeat (21-18 and 21-19).
The excitement multiplied in the doubles finals. The equality has been maximum and in both cases the winner has been decided in the third set. In the women’s, the Romanians Daria Gherasim and Cristina Sirbu managed to settle their match against the Turkish Elifnur Demir and Zeynep Ocakoglu 21-16, 21-23 and 21-16.
The men’s doubles title was also decided in the third set (15-21, 21-14 and 21-15) in favor of Danes Jens Andersson and Aske Roslyng against their compatriots Mikkel Bouet and Frederik Hinding.
The mixed final was also entirely Danish, with a clear 21-12 and 21-11 in favor of Jens Andersson and Athene Thornild against Mikkel Bouet and Eline Landsvig.
Ibiza, capital of badminton, says goodbye after hosting three important consecutive competitions for two weeks in which both established athletes and the main European promises have participated.
