Last February on his debut at the 2020 Europe Top 16 Cup in Montreux Darko JORGIC finished in the runners up spot. At that time his success raised a few eyebrows but this year at the 2021 POMEGRANATE Europe Top 16 Cup in Thessaloniki he will be competing as a favorite. On 18 and 19 September he will fight for silverware in the sunny Greek city.
JORGIC will arrive in Thessaloniki after his fantastic success at Tokyo 2020. Darko JORGIC became the first Slovenian ever to reach the quarter-finals of a singles table tennis event at an Olympic Games. Safely through the fourth round having beaten Great Britain’s Liam PITCHFORD the no.11 seed; the 23 year old caused an upset in the Japanese host nation as he beat Tomokazu HARIMOTO the no.3 seed.
“Honestly it is just now that I start to understand what I have achieved. At the first moment I could not believe it. It took me a few weeks to realise. If someone had told me that I will be among the top 8 players at the Olympic Games I would not have believed them and I would consider that as a good joke. But it happened. The last point in the match against HARIMOTO I will remember forever. It was one of my best matches in my career ” explained JORGIC.
At the start of 2020 in January JORGIC had remained unbeaten as he guided Slovenia to a place in the men’s team event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games following success at the ITTF World Team qualification Tournament in Gondomar.
After Tokyo JORGIC took few days off to recharge his batteries in Ibiza Spain.
“I took a two week break and now I am full of energy again and ready for the challenges. I started to work two weks ago. Saarbrücken had a Bundesliga match on Monday. I will be ready for the Top 16 ” said JORGIC.
It seems that Top 16 was the break-out moment for JORGIC. His progress accelerated after Montreux.
“For me the Top 16 is one of the most beautiful tournaments. The feeling from the thought that you are among the top European players is fantastic. I can agree that last year’s event was the turning point in my career; it made me believe I can beat anyone at the other side of the net. There are no untouchables ” explained JORGIC.
Last year in the first round Darko beat Vladimir SAMSONOV (Belarus) in the quarter-final he succeeded against WANG Yang (Slovakia) in the semis he overcame Tomislav PUCAR (Croatia) before he lost to Timo BOLL (Germany) in the final.
“Nothing changed Timo BOLL and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV are the biggest favorites this year as well. The only thing that makes the difference comparing other events is that we are playing only two days. In such occasions anything can happen. A lot depends on momentary inspiration. My goal is to be in the semis at least” concluded JORGIC.
