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The medal dream came true on the first day of the Olympics, and with it the coveted reward for several years of work. Since the inclusion of the mix in the program of games in Tokyo in 2017, the Slovak table tennis couple Barbora Balážová and Ľubomír Pištej have largely focused on this discipline. The medal escaped their fingers at big tournaments until this June, when they were crowned with silver at the European Championships in Warsaw. They wanted to confirm their high ranking and good form just below the five circles.
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The 16 best couples qualified there. The Slovaks were five deployed and could expect more favorable opponents before the opening eight finals. It did not happen that the draw determined the best of them from the second eight of the Romanians, Bernadette Szőcs and Ovid Ionesco. If they passed the initial obstacle, the most difficult one would face them in the form of the highest-ranking Chinese, Liu Shi-wen and Sin Sü. However, the Slovaks did not get that far.
On Saturday, at Pištej’s premiere under five circles, the Romanians lost 1: 4 to sets. “We were a little unlucky at the draw, but they were definitely better today. I was expecting a balanced match 50 to 50, but today, unfortunately, they surpassed us tactically. What can be done,” Sighed Pištej, who was especially sorry for the unused work of recent years: “It wasn’t the first round of the tournament for us. Only the top sixteen pairs are playing here, so it was like the fifth year of the rounds.”
The Romanians showed a quality tactical performance in the match, they were able to eliminate Baláž’s game and at the decisive moments they had more accurate punches. Balážová and Pištej in the fifth set withdrew from 5:10 to 9:10, but Ionescu was subsequently transformed by swordball. “In the end they were already 10: 5, we made it to 9:10, but it’s a pity that Ionescu finally hit the backhand. They might be nervous again, but overall I have to evaluate that they were better today,” said Pištej.
The 37-year-old representative traveled to Tokyo with an injured knee, with which he also played the “silver” European Championships. The doctors of the Slovak team managed to prepare him for Saturday’s duel and the torn meniscus, the torn ligament in his knee did not cause him problems. “Completely without restrictions, I played my standard normally. Maybe a better average. The knee absolutely didn’t affect the match,” stated for TASR.
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After the Olympics, he was originally supposed to undergo surgery, but currently the treatment is open: “One doctor wanted to operate on me the next day, the other Branislav Delej, who is here with us, told me that we would see how it would behave. Maybe it will work without surgery.”
His partner was very disappointed after the loss and poured ashes on her head: “We played the last tournaments very well. I played great in the mix of past events, so I’m so sorry, because for me it was below average performance today.” She admitted to TASR that her match did not work out, in addition, her opponents read her game well and found a recipe for it:
“He didn’t sit down, nervousness weighed in the first set, although it dropped, but it was very difficult for me to catch it. At the same time I thought positively the whole match, but I absolutely couldn’t get into it. As Ľubo said, I was totally out of our game. “
Balážová has to throw a bitter loss behind her head quickly, because she still has singles in Tokyo. However, he believes that under the Olympic rings he will get a chance to fight with Pištej: “I don’t think we have anything to be ashamed of. We belong here and it is to be hoped that it will be better in Paris.”
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