Badminton Association of Serbia, under the patronage of Serbian Ministry of Youth and Sports, has successfully organized the 2012 Badminton Balkan Championships U15 in Karatas, Serbia. The organization of this international tournament has been supported by: Olympic Committee of Serbia, Sports Association of Serbia, Touristic Association of Belgrade, Transport Company Lasta, Companies: Tin Sped, Yonex, Winner’s, Tomex catering, Soko Stark and Youth Camp Djerdap.

The Balkan Championships has been held from 28th to 30th of August in Youth Camp Djerdap – Karatas, near the town of Kladovo. The participants list consisted of 70 best players under the age of 15 and other team members from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey and Serbia. Team Competition included preliminaries (two preliminary groups each consisting of three teams), semifinals and finals. Serbia was represented by two teams, Serbia A and Serbia B. Individual Competition included system of elimination within every individual event: Boys Singles, Girls Singles, Boys Doubles, Girls Doubles and Mixed Doubles. Competition was conducted by referees: Andreja Andric and Miroslav Tadic.

Go to Badminton Europe's Facebook page to see a photo gallery from Karatas.

Serbian team achieved great success by winning bronze medal in Team Competition, and three bronze medals in Individual Competition. The members of the Serbian team on the podium were: Boys U15 – Luka Milic, Andrija Doder, Aleksa Lutovac, Nenad Milosevic, Kristijan Bela, Mateja Manic; Girls U15 - Natasa Pavlovic, Andrijana Stankovic, Jelena Stevanovic, Anja Velemir, Lena Janic, Milica Sokolovic, Tamara Jovanovic; Coaches - Milan Barbir, Dragan Antic, Nikola Mijacic, Marija Bulatovic, Mirjana Vasic; Team manager - Radomir Jovovic.

The results of Team Competition were as follows:

Preliminary Rounds, Group 1 - Turkey / Greece (5:0), Serbia A / Greece (4:1), Turkey / Serbia A (5:0); Group 2 – Romania / Serbia B (5:0), Serbia B / Bulgaria (0:5), Romania / Bulgaria (3:2). Semifinals – Serbia A / Romania (0:3), Turkey / Bulgaria (3:1). Finals – Turkey / Romania (3:1).

By gaining victory against the Romanian team, Turkish team defended last year’s title of Balkan champions under the age of 15. Serbian and Bulgarian team were both awarded with the third place.

Best achievements among the Serbian competitors were set by Natasa Pavlovic and Andrijana Stankovic, by winning three bronze medals each. In Girls Singles competition, Andrijana won bronze medal by defeating the Romanian competitor Andrea Muscalu in the first round of elimination, and after that by defeating the best Bulgarian competitor in a nerve racking match full of suspense (10:21, 21:14,21:18). Obviously exhausted, she was stopped in the semifinals by Demirbag Aliye of Turkey. In Girls Doubles competition, Natasa Pavlovic and Andrijana Stankovic defeated the best Bulgarian pair Neycheva / Zheleva with the final result 2:0. Finally, they were defeated with 2:1 (21:10, 21:23, 21:19) by the Balkan Champions from Turkey in the match unofficially declared as the best match of the whole Championships. The best Mixed Double from Serbia, Natasa Pavlovic / Luka Milic, got their bronze medal by winning in the match against the Romanian pair Gisca / Stoica. In the medal contest they were defeated by Balkan champions from Turkey Yuskel / Ozelgul by 2:1 (19:21, 21:9, 21:13).

Balkan Championships was attended by Mr. Puzant Kassabian, President of the Balkan Badminton Federation, Mrs. Corina Dan, Badminton Europe Communications Director and Mrs. Victoria Chatzina, President of the Hellenic Badminton Federation. After the conclusion of this important international event, they sent their honorable mention addressing the management of the Serbian Federation, fantastic event management and Championships organization, and also significant competitive achievements set by the best Serbian junior and men & women badminton players.

‘’We owe our sincere gratitude to Serbian Ministry of Youth and Sports for continually supporting Badminton Federation of Serbia. Great competitive and organizational success are the main products standing behind two decades of systematic and quality work done inside our Federation. During the Olympic month, we tried to create the atmosphere that could pass on the Olympic values and spirit to Youth Camp Djerdap. We would also like to give our tribute and thanks to the management and the staff of the Youth Camp for their devotion and great hospitality during all these years. Guests as well as hosts had a lot of memorable moments on and off the court. With the support of our dear colleagues from Taekwondo Association of Serbia, Volleyball Club ‘’Zeleznik 2012’’, Judo Club ‘’Olimp’’, Synchronized Swimming Club ‘’Delfin’’ and the people of the Town of Kladovo, the atmosphere during the Championships was excellent. Young members of the Serbian Team, participants in the realization of the ‘’Olympic tradition’’ programe promoted by the Olympic Committee of Serbia, showed us that we can rightfully expect better competitive achievements and results in the future’’ – stated Radomir Jovovic, President of the Executive Board of the Badminton Association of Serbia.