Athlete of the Week

Florin Orban, 23.08.2022, 13:35

Romania ranked 9th at the multisport European
Championships hosted several days ago by Munich. Athletes from our country
walked away with eight gold medals, two silver and five bronze from the aforementioned
competition. Most of the medals were won by Romania’s rowers in the
competition’s first week. In the second week, hammer thrower Bianca Ghelber,
canoeist Catalin Chirila and table tennis player Bernadette Szocs reaped gold
for Romania.

Table tennis player Bernadette Szőcs, silver medalist in the
mixed doubles contest together with Ovidiu Ionescu has been designated Athlete
of the week by Radio Romania International.

Bernadette Szőcs was born on March 5th 1995 in Târgu
Mureş central Romania and took up table tennis at the age of 8. She managed to
obtain good results in European and world competitions and these results pushed
her ahead in world rankings. Because she was refused the support she needed
from the sport authorities in Romania, in 2010 Szocs considered the idea of
moving to Norway and competing under the Norwegian flag. Eventually she decided
to give up her emigration plan and in 2016 at the European Championships in
Budapest the athlete came third in the mixed doubles together with Ovidiu
Ionescu and a year later at the championships in Luxembourg she obtained her
first European title with the Romanian team.

In 2018 in Montreux, Switzerland she compelled recognition
in the European Top‑16 tournament, a competition, which brings together the
best athletes on the continent. A year later in Nantes, France, she became
European champion again with the Romanian team. She is presently ranking 32nd
in the world ranking, where in 2019 she occupied the 14th position.

(bill)