01. 01. 2020
It's called the Slovak Wrestling League, although it only has two rounds this season. The first was in mid-October in Bratislava, the second will take place this coming weekend in Snina. And it will be done, another champion will be written into the annals...
KOŠICE. Whether Slovak wrestling benefits at all from this "mini-league" is questionable. "I don't understand why it is that the Slovak team league has been shortened like this," says the new coach of the Košice freestyle A-team, Juraj Dancák, shaking his head.
"It is certainly detrimental to our wrestling, because those wrestlers need to compete as often as possible, and the league should offer them this opportunity. The structure of the competition definitely needs to be changed, because a two-round league is pointless."
Let us recall that after the first round, Dunajplavba Bratislava is in the lead with a three-point advantage over Vihorlat Snina, and eight points ahead of ZK Košice 1904. The other six teams are somewhat just making up the numbers.
The names of the three medalists are therefore known in advance, it is now up to them how they will share the podium. The Košice team would like to move up at least one place in the final standings, although a small snag has attached itself to their desire.
"We have a considerable amount of illness before the tournament in Snina," says Juraj Dancák.
"Pavol Kmeč, who has a dislocated knee, dropped out of the lineup due to an injury from the Olympic Hopes Cup tournament, and an MRI showed that it will be a long-term problem. And some kind of virus is spreading in the team, Michal Pavlík stayed in bed, Jakub Kačeňák is reporting a fever, and my son is in a similar situation. In addition, Majo Hutňan is not yet fully recovered after his injury, although he says he wants to wrestle in Snina. But despite these problems, we are able to put together a team, although its strength will not be what it would be if we were complete. Of course, I would rather field healthy competitors than those who are injured or ill, because that could have unfortunate consequences for their health in the future, but we do not have an adequate replacement for these wrestlers, and I am taking that risk. We will definitely field ten competitors for the final round of the league, because we have a fairly large squad, but our strength will not be ideal. The virus is also elsewhere, so other clubs may also be weakened, but we cannot rely on that. Despite these circumstances, there may be interesting matches at the tournament in Snina. We would certainly like to move up to at least second place in the table, but a lot will also depend on our opponents, how Snina strengthens, in what lineup Dunajplavba comes. I don't have any notice about that yet, only when our boys who are studying in Bratislava return home..."
They can afford to pay for legionnaires
Košice coach Juraj Dancák favors the home team Snina for the title. "Because this kind of competition system, where the league ends after two rounds, suits the Snina team the most. They can buy foreign wrestlers for these tournaments because they can afford to pay them for two rounds. I assume that in this respect, Snina will do everything to defend the title."
And the experience of the legionnaires will be a strong trump card against the Košice youth, who showed themselves in a good light at the recent Olympic Hopes tournament.
"I was satisfied with the performances of several wrestlers, whom I am also counting on in the league, but you can see that the wrestlers from Hungary or Romania have more experience, they are more seasoned than ours, who lack such contacts and international tournaments. Although they can match them in many ways, more frequent confrontation with foreign countries is needed."
Read more: https://kosice.korzar.sme.sk/c/6620089/kosickych-zapasnikov-klati-pred-finale-viroza.html#ixzz5OtSfzLi6