The most important multi-sport
event of the year has come to an end. The European Games hosted jointly by the
city of Krakow and the region of Malopolska, brought together the best athletes
of the continent who competed in 29 sport disciplines. Among the 7,000 participants,
there were also 150 athletes from Romania who walked away from the
aforementioned competition with 17 medals, 6 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze.
Out of the all Romanian
medalists, we have noticed the performance obtained by table tennis player Bernadette
Szőcs, who won the first gold in the singles contest and then with the Romanian
side in the teams’ competition. Together with Ovidiu Ionescu she also reaped
bronze in the mixed doubles and for her performances in Poland, Radio Romania
International has designated Bernadette Szőcs ‘Athlete of the Week’.
Bernadette Szőcs was born on 5 March
1995 in Târgu Mureş (central Transylvania)
and took up tennis at the age of 8 with good results in cadets and juniors
competitions. Bernadette won several medals in European and World competitions
advancing quickly in international rankings.
In 2010, demotivated by the lack
of interest shown by the Romanian sports officials, Bernadette wanted to leave
the country and compete for Norway but she eventually changed her mind. In 2016,
at the European Championships in Budapest, she came third in the mixed doubles
with Ovidiu Ionescu. A year later she won her first European title with the
Romanian side in Luxembourg. In 2018 in Montreux, Switzerland, she won the
Top-16 tournament, a competition, which brings together the best players on the
continent. A year later in Nantes, France, she again became European champion
with the Romanian team. In Munich, last
year, she reaped the European title in the doubles event together with Austrian
player Sofia Polcanova, an athlete born in the Republic of Moldova. She also
walked away with silver from the mixed-doubles, where she competed together
with Ovidiu Ionescu. She is presently ranking 17th in the world
standings, where her best performance was in 2019 when she ranked 14th.
(bill)