08. 06. 2013
Košice, Snina (June 8, 2013) - Frustration, disappointment, and anger were palpable in the voice of Juraj Dancák Sr., the coach of our Wrestling Club (ZK) Košice 1904 seniors, upon his return from the 2nd round of the Slovak Senior Freestyle Wrestling League in Snina. The reason, however, was not the performance of his charges, but, paradoxically, the referees after the match in the 74 kg weight category between our Dan Pálinkás and the Ukrainian Perkhalyuk, who was competing for Vihorlat Snina, the defender of last year's first place in the competition.
The referees initially confirmed Pálinkás's victory on points, but then, after protests from the Snina team and mutual consultation among themselves—that is, between the head referee Marek Mlynek, the mat chairman Laco, the mat referee Bulka, and the scoring referee Cichovský—they delivered the opposite verdict. They awarded the points to Pekhalyuk, and this verdict ultimately decided the final victory of Vihorlat over ZK Košice 4:3. If the result from the mat had remained valid, the winner of the duel would have been ZK Košice 1904, and thus our club would have remained in the running for the overall first place in the Slovak league. What's more, it would have had at least a two-point lead before the decisive 3rd round, which will be held on the first Saturday of October in Bratislava. The duel in the 84 kg category between our Michael Bodnár and Dub from Bratislava, in which our wrestler had the upper hand, was ended by an injury to Bodnár's knee when his leg twisted after a lunge on the poor-quality mat.
"I don't even feel like going back to what happened in Snina.
Two injuries to Maťo Deák and Mišo Bodnár, and the reversal of the result with Snina against us, was too much for one day. I think the team was quite well prepared within the possibilities. Especially Dan Pálinkás's form is on an upward curve. The loss to Dunajplavba was decided by Mišo Bodnár's injury. He had the match with Dub clearly in his hands. Due to the organizer's fault - an irregular mat - this match ended with an injury. What's worse is that Mišo will not compete at the European Junior Championships and it is questionable whether he will even recover in time for the World Junior Championships. Dano Dancák has not returned to his previous form after his injury. It's a shame about Marián Hutňan and his knee and back injuries even before the competition. Gabriel Tysz wrestled with the national team member Jaloviar and his performance was very good. Vihorlat Snina, with the help of the referees who significantly influenced the result of the match, defeated us 4:3 and basically made a significant step towards winning the title. I can't blame my charges for anything. Their form did not decide it, but diplomacy did. From my point of view, an off-site meeting of the presidium of the Slovak Wrestling Federation at the competition venue is more than unfortunate," coach J. Dancák vented.