Table tennis player Hana Matelová won gold in doubles at the European Championships in Linz. In today’s final, Slovakian Barborová Balážová defeated defending champion Sofia Polcanová and Bernadette Szöcsová from Romania 3:2.
Thirty-four-year-old Matelová won the eleventh European gold for Czech table tennis and the first since the triumph of Antonín Gavlas with Renáta Štrbíková in the mixed doubles in 2013. The last time Marta Lužová and Jitka Karlíková celebrated the title in women’s doubles was 56 years ago.
Matelová and Balážová won the first set 11:7, but lost the second set by the same ratio. In the third, they lost the lead 9:6, but in the end they succeeded 11:9. In the fourth set, the Czech-Slovak pair led 3:1, but Polcanová and Szöcsová took a timeout, turned the score around and forced a decisive set.
Matelová and Balážová had a rocket entry into it and took the lead 8:2. Polcanová and Szöcsová, who will play against each other in the singles final today, were able to reduce the score to 6:8, but Matelová and Balážová bounced back to 10:6 and immediately ended the match with the first match point.
For Matelova and two years younger Balážová, the gold is the greatest joint success. Their maximum so far has been fifth places in the European Championships in 2015, 2016 and 2022. One win separated them from the precious metal last year at the World Championship as well.
“We are the champions of Europe, I immediately asked Baška how it sounds to her. I can’t believe it,” said Matelová on the website of the Czech association, who decided to extend her career in the light of her life’s success. She originally wanted to quit after the European Championship.
“Initially, it was supposed to be my last tournament, but certain things convinced me that I will continue and at least we will play the World Championship together. We will defend the quarterfinals there and maybe we have finally broken through and it will ring there as well,” she declared.
