Anna Hell showed a strong performance. © SBS

South Tyrol's badminton aces cause a sensation

No Azzurro before him had ever done better at a Junior European Championship! The 18-year-old Marco Danti from Eppan reached the quarter-finals at the European Championship in Ibiza together with Simone Piccinin. Four of the six Azzurri who competed in Ibiza train at the SBS - South Tyrol Badminton School.

18 December 2024

From: pm

Yasmine Hamza, meanwhile, celebrated her first victory against a top 100 player after her serious knee injury. The Bozen native will end the year in the top 150 in the world. Yasmine Hamza defeated a top 4 player for the first time since her cruciate ligament tear on October 1, 31 in Italy's 2023-100 victory over Ireland with Rachel Darragh during the qualification for the Mixed Team European Championship in Germany.

This means that the 21-year-old from Bolzano moves up to 167th place in the world rankings. There is a world ranking tournament in Nepal (International Challenge) at Christmas. This means that Hamza will end the year at 150th place in the world rankings.

A man from Eppan goes far

The SBS juniors also played well. Marco Danti was particularly impressive at the European Championships in Ibiza at the beginning of December. The Eppan player only had to admit defeat to the eventual European champions Thibault Gardon/Tom Lalote Trescart in the quarter-finals of the doubles. Both Danti and Anna Hell made it into the top 32 in singles, as did the duo Hell/Galimberti in doubles. Ruben Fellin from Bolzano also competed.

Danti also stood out at the European Junior Team Championship. He contributed four wins to the Azzurrini's seven matches won. Hell, Galimberti and Fellin were also victorious. Italy finished third in the preliminary group after a 4-1 victory over Finland and defeats against Ukraine (2:39) and Romania (1:4).