Friday the 13th brought luck to the Szekler table tennis team, ISK-SZAK. In a match in Nemeshodos/Vydrany, Slovakia, against Slovakian champion SK Vydrany, the Székelyudvarhely/Odorheiu Secuiesc team achieved its biggest-ever success by getting into the best four teams of the Table Tennis European Cup. But this still doesn’t mean that they will automatically play in the semifinals because the teams finishing in third place at the Champions League will also be joining them now.
A curious point was that even though the teams played against each other first in Romania than a week later in Slovakia, the fans – who accompanied their teams – could still arrive “home” since the games in both countries were organized in predominantly Hungarian settlements. (In Székelyudvarhely, more than 90 percent of the inhabitants are Hungarian, while more than 80 percent are Hungarian in Nemeshodos.)
The first player of ISK-SZAK on Friday was Krisztián Cservik (Hungarian sportsman born in Vajdaság, Serbia). The second game was played by the Swedish Sebastian Loso, while the Székelyudvarhely-born Szilárd György was the third to step up to the table. Despite the fact that the Székelyudvarhely team lost this match 3-2, the result was a 5-5 draw since they won 3-2 at home the previous week. So the number of additional games won finally decided which team got to advance, which went to ISK-SZAK who won 22-20.
In the next round, the Szekler team will meet with Sporting Lisbon, which won’t be an easy task either, taking into consideration that the 34-time Portuguese champion only fell out of the Champions League by a fraction. They also have top players in their team, such as Nigerian Quadri Aruna who is the 20th best player in world rankings.
“We can’t lose anything, but we are extremely happy and cheerful… Half a year ago, nobody would have even thought that we could play in the European Cup’s semifinals against a Champions League team.”
–stated enthusiastically the ISK-SZAK head coach, István György, to Marosvásárhelyi Rádió.
The first match between the the Szekler and the Portuguese team will be held in Székelyudvarhely between February 7-9 2020, while the second match will follow one week later in Lisbon.
Men Table Tennis Europe Cup; 4th round; second game day on December 13, 2019
SK Vydrany–Székelyudvarhelyi ISK-SZAK 3–2. Aggregate: 5–5,
According to its better won game ratio ISK-SZAK advanced.
Peter Sereda–Krisztián Cservik 3–1 (12–10, 9–11, 11–7, 11–5).
Samuel Novota–Sebastian Loso 2–3 (6–11, 14–12, 9–11, 11–9, 9–11).
Csánó Juran– Szilárd György 0–3 (5–11, 8–11, 3–11).
Peter Sereda–Sebastian Loso 3–2 (11–9, 6–11, 9–11, 11–6, 11–4).
Samuel Novota– Krisztián Cservik 3–2 (11–5, 9–11, 11–7, 10–12, 11–9).
Title image: ISZK-SZAK vs. SK Vydrany on the first match day on December 6, 2019 in Székelyudvarhely.
