01. 01. 2020
They are the best Slovak club for 2011, they have the best senior and junior among Slovak freestyle wrestlers, and successes on international mats, yet something is missing for complete satisfaction.
KOŠICE. "Naturally, we are very pleased with the first place in the club rankings for 2011, but at the same time, it is also a commitment, because especially in the pupil categories we have large reserves, by which I am referring to last week's Slovak Senior Pupils' Championship in our Social Pavilion," tames the euphoria in the Košice 1904 Wrestling Club its president Ján Tokár.
"Paradoxically, we were evaluated as the best Slovak club when we did not win the league title in the men's category. A year ago we were second, behind Dunajplavba, even though we were champions, because the Bratislava wrestlers had better international placements. At that time, we were missing some major international success, for which there are many points. This time, even though we did not win the league, we were successful on the international stage, which also scored us points in the club rankings."
At the beginning of the year, the Košice team also recorded a victory on the diplomatic field, when Arpád Bakšay, who defended the colors of Lokomotíva during his active career, took the chair of the head of the Slovak Wrestling Federation.
"From this change at the highest federation post, we expect that the work with youth will be better presented, that it will also be reflected in the relations between the federation and the clubs, especially in terms of finding and supporting new talents. And naturally, that the transparency of management will also be ensured, because there is less and less money in our sport year by year," says the Košice president.
Sofia is just around the corner
Slovak wrestling has a rich, at least Olympic, past, although one cannot live off it forever. Especially not when the continuity of participation of Slovak wrestlers in the games under the flag with five colored rings is interrupted.
The times of Herda, Athanasov, Strnisko, and Lohyňa are long gone, and the fight for an Olympic spot is getting tougher and tougher.
A glimmer of hope is flickering at the qualifying tournaments for the Košice team as well. Sofia is, somewhat surprisingly, a thing of the past, but in Tayiuan, China, and Helsinki, Finland, the wrestlers of ZK Košice 1904 (Kačeňák, Pálinkás, Hutňan) should not be absent.
"The Presidium of the Slovak Wrestling Federation is still reassessing the participation of our wrestlers in the Olympic qualifying tournaments in terms of finances, so I cannot take a position on whether the Košice representation in the national team is sufficient or not, but we still have the ambition to win at least one Olympic spot for Slovak wrestling. Of course, I continue to play with the idea that we would like to have a wrestler from Košice at the Olympics, whether this year in London or in four years in Rio. It's just a shame that the freestyle wrestlers are not going to the first tournament in Sofia, because it's right around the corner and does not require as much expense as a trip to China, but that is a matter for the national coach and the presidium of the Slovak Wrestling Federation," says Ján Tokár.
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