Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA bronze medalists in singles and silver medalists in doubles in European Championships in Alicante 2018 will be on duty again in Munich in less than 3 weeks (August 13th to 21st). POLCANOVA is no 3 seed in Women’s Singles Event.
Recently Sofia had played at the WTT Champions European Summer Series 2022 in Budapest and reached the Round of 16. Before she lost to Cina’s WANG Manyu she beat Georgina POTA of Hungary.
“Generally I am satisfied with my results in Budapest. I lost in last 16 1:3 against WANG Manyu but overall the performance was good ” said POLCANOVA.
What is the next step before Munich.
“Before Europeans I will go for preparation to Sweden with the national team and just before the Championships I will spend short time in Romania. In Doubles in Munich I will play with Bernadette SZOCS so I will use few days before the start of Championships to practice with Berni.”
POLCANOVA won silver in Alicante with Yana NOSKOVA of Russia but this one partnership looks equally successful.
“We teamed up in 2019. From the beginning we played very well together and made good results at the tournaments. We also understand each other well outside of table tennis and I think that is an advantage. Our style of play is convenient for each other also because Bernie is right and I am left handed.”
Top two seeds above Sofia in Singles are HAN Ying and Nina MITTELHAM of Germany and one place below is SHAN Xiaona also of Germany. Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic YUAN Jia Nan of France YU Fu of Portugal Bernadette SZOCS and Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania and Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine are in top 10.
“I think everyone will try to be in the best shape because European Championships is the main goal for everyone. I cannot tell who is the main favorite for gold. It depends on many factors. The top nations’ players are always in good shape “stated POLCANOVA.