During the Pentecost weekend from 23 to 25 May, the international youth table tennis tournament (International Youth Cup) took place once again in Hasselt. This year marked our fourth participation together with TTV Flash. A few players from MTTV Mierlo and Stiphout joined us as well.
This year we were able to form two teams:
Team 1: Noa, Lars, Jelle, Charlotte (competing in the category B‑Boys Elite) Team 2: Jasper, Thomas, Sem (C‑Boys)
Luc formed a team together with three Flash players and competed in the B‑Boys class.
On Friday evening, 22 May, we headed to the cabin at Chiro As‑Niel. After last year’s disappointing accommodation, we returned to the well‑liked lodging from 2024. No quiz this time, but the kids could get to know each other on the football field. Everyone was encouraged to go to bed on time, because the tournament would begin the next day.
The tournament format is familiar by now: the morning session consists of team matches, and the afternoon session is for individual matches. The first day of the team tournament is usually the most important: if you finish high in your group, you get to compete on day 2 against other teams that also finished high, fighting for the upper positions in the ranking. If you perform well again on day 2, you can compete for the top places on day 3. If you start poorly on day 1, you are doomed to play in the lower regions on days 2 and 3. The nice thing about this system is that on days 2 and 3 you face teams that are closer to your level, which results in more enjoyable matches.
The singles format works as follows: on day 1 you play short matches (best‑of‑3) in a group. If you finish high, you will likely receive an easier draw or even a bye in the first round of the knockout tournament on day 2.
Team 1 and Team 2 were unfortunately placed in different sports halls, so below you will find the reports for Team 1 and Luc (sports hall Runkst) and Team 2 (sports hall Kuringen).
Day 1
Team 1
The B‑Boys, ages 16 to 19, played in hall Runkst. Our first team was registered in the B‑Boys Elite category. For the first time in four years, they would measure themselves against the top players from other clubs.
On Saturday they had to start against the Belgian provincial team Namur. Against each team, six matches are played. Lars managed to narrowly win his first match 15–13 in the fifth, but unfortunately lost his second. Jelle and Noa were also unable to secure their matches, despite forcing a fifth set multiple times. Namur would later become the losing finalist of the tournament.
Lars en Noa in action
The next opponent was Tiège 1. This time Lars won his first match easily with 3–0. Unfortunately, a good follow‑up did not materialize. Lars, Jelle, and Charlotte lost their other matches. Tiège 1 later turned out to be a top‑4 team in the tournament.
The final opponent was the German team from Büren. This time Noa, Jelle, and Charlotte played. By now the temperature in the hall had risen to 30 degrees, with humidity above 70%. This had a noticeable effect on the play. Grip on the damp ball was terrible, and balls often flew over the table or dropped into the net. Under these conditions, Noa and Jelle both managed to win one match. The other four were unfortunately lost.
Luc
Luc formed a team together with three Flash players. This team competed in the B‑Boys category. They were placed in a group with Erdmannhausen 3 and Team Samourai. The first match against Erdmannhausen 3 was immediately a tough one, and they lost 2–4. The second match, however, was much easier: the team won 5–1, finishing second in the first group stage and advancing to day 2 with good results.
At 15:00 the individual matches were scheduled. Groups of four or five elite players. Lars won all but one of his matches, securing a strong position for the knockout phase. Just like Lars, both Jelle and Noa finished second in their groups. Charlotte also collected her wins and ended up playing last of all in the sweltering hall, winning her match. She finished third in her group.
Luc played in the B‑Boys category and ended up in a group of four. Each match started off difficult, but Luc managed to turn every one of them around and won all his matches, finishing first in his group.
Team 2
Day 1 went very well for Team 2. There appeared to be far more teams registered in the Elite category than in the “regular” tournament, including some familiar faces from the Netherlands from De Treffers. The balance felt a bit odd: the average level of the teams in the C‑Boys seemed noticeably lower than last year. Or perhaps our boys have simply improved a lot in a year — that’s certainly possible.
I wouldn’t say everything was won effortlessly, but Hannover 69 2 and Tourinnes were both defeated quite comfortably with 6–0. This made us the best team in the group.
In the afternoon the singles were played. Jasper won all his matches and received a bye in the knockout phase. Sem and Thomas both won three out of five matches.
Back at the cabin, everyone was extremely hungry. The barbecue tasted fantastic.
Day 2
Team 1
Saturday’s team results meant that Veldhoven 1 had to play for positions 17 to 30 on Sunday. Theo was present to coach this day. They were placed in a group with Treffers Getavé 2 and Tourinnes. They started the day with a 3–3 draw against Tourinnes, with everyone winning one match under the guidance of coach Noa. The players from De Treffers were very familiar from the league and Dutch tournaments, and the teams had already spent a lot of time together on Saturday. In exciting matches, Veldhoven eventually won 5–1.
Luc
Luc’s team played against Erdmannhausen 1 and UDC Dublin. They started against UDC Dublin, a very difficult opponent. They lost 1–5. Erdmannhausen 1 turned out not to be much easier, and they also lost 1–5. All in all, the team could still look back on good matches with many beautiful points played.
In the afternoon, the temperature once again rose to 30 degrees with high humidity — far from ideal table tennis weather. At 15:00, under these conditions, the knockout phase of the singles began. Based on their results from Saturday, Lars, Charlotte, and Noa all received a bye. Jelle had to start immediately in the round of 64. He won his first two knockout rounds but was eliminated in round 3.
Noa had to face Mathijs from De Treffers in the second round, always a tense matchup. He won that match, but in the next round his opponent from Hainaut proved too strong. Lars was eliminated after a good match by an extremely strong and friendly Danish player, who later went on to win the Elite‑B tournament. Charlotte also unfortunately could not overcome her opponent from Braine L’Alleu.
In the B‑Boys category, Luc received a bye in his first match thanks to his strong group stage the day before. This meant he started directly in the round of 16. He faced a tough opponent, with each set going neck‑and‑neck. In the end, Luc managed to pull through and win 3–2. In the quarterfinals, Luc faced teammate Lonneke — a very difficult match, which Luc lost 1–3.
Team 2
Thanks to the strong results from day 1, we were able to compete for positions 1 through 6 (out of 9). A big stroke of luck was that we were placed in the same group as Flash 2, who — despite their very inexperienced players — had received a walk‑over on day 1 (their opponent didn’t show up, so 6–0 for Flash), allowing them to join the top‑6 group. The third team in the group was Ostschweizer from Switzerland.
As expected, both the Swiss team and Veldhoven won 6–0 against Flash, so the final match between Veldhoven and Ostschweizer would decide the group winner. The Swiss hadn’t needed to exert themselves against Flash, so we couldn’t properly gauge their level. But from the very first ball contact we knew: oh sh*t, we’re cooked. It turned out to be three boys ranked 3, 5, and 7 in Switzerland. They were supposed to play in the Elite category but had mistakenly registered in the wrong one. Our boys fought hard but couldn’t avoid a 0–6 defeat.
In the other group, Tourinnes finished last without scoring a point, and Hannover 69 1 and Vlaams‑Brabant were evenly matched. In a tense match, Hannover won 4–2.
The singles knockout phase went slightly better this year for Thomas and Sem. This time they both made it through the first round after beating familiar players from Hannover 69 2. They were both eliminated in the second round — Thomas by an Elite player, and Sem by the tall Jeremy from Vlaams‑Brabant.
Jasper played his first match in the second round against an Elite player from Erdmannhausen, the same team we narrowly lost to 3–4 last year. This player turned out to be a true Chinese wall — Jasper simply couldn’t break through his defense. It became a five‑setter, with the German player taking the win.
Back at the cabin, a food truck serving fries was ready to satisfy our hunger. Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious ice cream at the local ice‑cream shop.
Day 3
Team 1
On Monday the final matches were played. Stephan came along to coach today. Veldhoven 1 started against Hyon‑Cuesmes 1. This match was won by Lars, Jelle, and Charlotte with 5–1. Because of this, they were allowed to play their final match against Erdmannhausen. Even though there wasn’t much left at stake, it turned into a very exciting match in which the teams were evenly matched. With the score at 3–2 for the Germans, Lars unfortunately just missed the chance to secure the equalizer in a tense match, meaning we ultimately finished as the 22nd team.
In this tournament, Veldhoven 1 showed that they definitely belong on the elite stage — but also that they are not yet among the absolute top. Once again, Hasselt was a fun and educational experience.
Luc
The Flash/Veldhoven team with Luc played one more match on Monday for places 5/6, against Erdmannhausen 3, whom they had already faced on Saturday. This time the result was better: after six extremely exciting matches, several of which went to five sets, the score was 3–3. This meant a deciding doubles match had to be played. The team chose Luc and Igor for the doubles, which was on paper the strongest lineup.
It was a tough match that could have gone either way. Unfortunately, Erdmannhausen 3 managed to pull ahead in the fourth set, winning 12–10, which meant Luc’s team lost 1–3 and finished in 6th place.
Team 2
For a moment, a podium place seemed out of reach because we were not among the top three across the two groups on day 2. However, it turned out that on the third day the best four teams were allowed to compete for the prizes. So we had to recharge and give it one more push on the final day. It wasn’t easy after two nights of short sleep and with all our packing still ahead of us.
After only a short warm‑up, we started the match against Hannover 69 1, the winner of day 2 in their group. It seemed hopeless beforehand, but Thomas and Sem started their first matches well. Both matches went to five sets — Thomas narrowly won, Sem narrowly lost. 1–1.
Jasper then had to try to put us ahead, but he wasn’t in form yet and made too many errors, losing his match. On the other table, Thomas also lost his match. In the final round, Sem lost, ending the team match. Jasper’s match was still played out, and he managed to score one more point, making the final score 2–4.
So we had to try once more in the consolation final to fight for a podium place against Vlaams‑Brabant, who had lost 1–4 to the Swiss without much resistance. Again, Sem and Thomas started first. Sem clearly struggled with fatigue, alternating beautiful points with unnecessary mistakes, and narrowly lost. Thomas had a much tougher time against the player who had managed to take a point from Ostschweizer.
With a 0–2 deficit, Jasper began his match against Jeremy. Fortunately, his play improved as the morning progressed, and with powerful forehand strokes he managed to defeat the tall giant. On the other table, Sem lost his second match, so we had to try to pull out a draw to reach the deciding doubles match.
Jasper showed his old level again in his final match and won easily in three games, and Thomas had the chance to take revenge against Jeremy. Thomas played excellently, dominating the rallies and sending Jeremy all over the table. But more and more errors crept into his game, while Jeremy recovered impressively. The fifth game had to decide it. Thomas initially played better and held the lead almost the entire time, but he couldn’t finish the match. In a tense deuce, a lucky edge ball from the opponent at 13–14 proved fatal.
The disappointment was big — we had just missed the chance to play the deciding doubles. But afterwards, we could still look back with satisfaction on a strong performance and a 4th place finish. Next year we will join the Elite category as well — we are certainly not without a chance.
Afterwards, everyone gathered at the snackbar where, according to Flash tradition, we ordered a “stoomboot” before heading home. Thanks again to Flash for the organization, and congratulations on their 2nd place in the D‑girls team event and 3rd place in the singles. We are already looking forward to next year.
Met sportieve groet,
Jeffrey Kang, Rob Golsteijn, Luc Dieben