Surprising results during first day of European Games tennis table tournament

European Games table tennis tournament started in style in Hutnik Arena. There were some surprising results on first day of the competition. The referee had to silence the fans at one moment which is unusual for table tennis but shows emotions that were involved.

Table tennis is one of the sports for which most tickets sold at the European Games Krakow-Małopolska 2023. There are no tickets for the finals, but in order to play for medals, you have to go through a dense sieve of eliminations, which started today in Kraków.

There were two quite sensational outcomes during first day of tennis table competition during European Games Kraków – Małopolska 2023. Both involved Sweden’s Christina Kallberg a favorite in single’s and mixed doubles. First she lost mixed double game – Kallbers together Truls Moregardh lost 2:3 Turkey’s Sibel Altinkaya and Ibrahim Gunduz. In tightest match of the day Christina Kallberg lost to Hungary’s Mercedes Nagyvaradi – 3:4 – 17:19 in decisive game.

The player who received biggest applause during the first day of tennis table competition was the youngest one – Miłosz Redzimski  was born in 2006 so is not even 17 years old yet and already youth European champion. Redzimski bravely dealt with almost 20 (!) years older Nigol Stoyanov, an Italian born in Sofia. In the end, the experience prevailed and Stoyanov won 4:2, but Poland‘s hope fort he future had some fantastic moments.

The transition from junior age to competition with adults is extremely difficult in table tennis, but Redzimski is fully aware of where he is and knows that talent alone, not supported by hard work, is not enough. This is very positive, because as you know, an athlete counts from the waist up, and the most important thing is the head.

You can find all the results here.