Europe's top young ping pong prospects earn ITTF Hopes spots

Five boys and six girls secured ITTF Hopes qualification after a week of training and evaluation in Havířov, with another two boys and three girls also earning places in the ETTU Eurotalents programme. The selections, confirmed on July 1, turned a continental camp in Czech Republic into a direct step toward the sport’s U12 development track.

The ITTF Europe Hopes Week & Challenge ran from June 14 to June 20 at the National Training Center in Havířov, where young players from across the continent were assessed before the final lists were set. The ITTF Hopes Programme is built for players born in or after 2014, and the federation says the pathway has been running for more than 15 years, with about 1,600 young players involved worldwide since 2009. National Hopes Weeks feed into continental Hopes Weeks, then into the ITTF World Hopes Week & Challenge.

Among the boys, Akif Emre Bucak of Türkiye, Aiden Cepeda of Belgium and Ryan Li of Ireland were among the names that stood out as they moved into the Hopes pathway. Daniel Casquero of Spain and Vojtech Beránek of Czechia joined Eurotalents, the European development programme that keeps players in the system until they move beyond the U13 age category. Kamilla Kadar of Finland had already been part of Eurotalents since 2025, showing how the programme is designed to stretch beyond a single selection camp and into a longer senior-pathway build.

The girls’ group added more names that European coaches will keep on the radar, including Defne Üzümcü, Derin Mülazim, Maya Andreea Pavel, Mia Wu, Stella Presecki, Lara Monteiro, Andreea Prohorovici and Aybige Feride Üstündağ. The Czech Table Tennis Association was credited with delivering a well-organized, high-quality week in Havířov, and ETTU described the venue as the right setting for Europe’s next generation to train, develop and be tested at a high level.

Havířov’s selections now roll directly into the wider international calendar, with the next regional Hopes stop set for Accra, Ghana, where the ITTF-Africa Hopes Week & Challenge runs from July 13 to July 18. For the players who left Czech Republic with Hopes or Eurotalents status, the week confirmed who is moving fastest toward the sport’s biggest youth stage.