17. 11. 2012
Košice (November 17, 2012) - The fifteenth edition of the international tournament "Cup of Olympic Hopes," organized by our Wrestling Club (ZK) Košice 1904 on Saturday, November 17, was the most successful in its history. This was confirmed by the words of foreign participants and the participation of junior national teams from seven European countries. Among them, the representatives of our club did not get lost - Michal Pavlík and Michael Bodnár won valuable bronze medals.
But our other wrestlers did not play "second fiddle" either and confirmed that they are among the best in Slovakia in their category. "I was particularly pleased with the results of our two medalists. Mišo Bodnár missed the final by a hair's breadth due to his own inattention. Maybe it's a good thing that it happened at a tournament like this and not at a more important one. Miki Pavlík confirmed his upward trend by winning the bronze medal and with his performance. Slavo Kupčo and Jakub Sciranka drew attention to themselves with two fifth places. Especially the latter showed a fighting spirit in tough duels. It's a shame about Paľo Kmeč's injury. We will miss him significantly in the last round of the senior league. I was less satisfied with the performances of Dávid Berdis and Dávid Polačko. It is clear that with an honest approach to training, we can move forward even in our conditions," said ZK Košice 1904 coach Juraj Dancák Sr., adding: "The foreign participants characterized our tournament as successful. I think we managed it both organizationally and qualitatively. It's a shame that only a handful of Slovak wrestlers participated in a tournament of this level. Here you can see how the work with youth is lacking and how individual sports are financed."
The president of ZK Košice 1904, Ján Tokár Jr., was also satisfied with the level of the tournament and the results of our boys: "It was the most high-quality tournament in its history so far. There were national teams from Hungary, Romania, Poland, Belarus, Serbia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and I would like to point out that all the national teams had their number one representatives at the tournament, so it really had its intensity on the mats. From our boys, I must praise how Mišo Pavlík in the 60 kg category and Mišo Bodnár in the 84 kg fought; both won excellent bronze medals. Jozef Lohyňa also came to watch the fights for the most valuable medals. We are continuing to organize camps with Mr. Lohyňa; on Sunday morning, he watched a video recording not only from this tournament but also from the previous Slovak Senior Championships, and at the morning training, he not only pointed out to our boys where they made mistakes but also showed them his technique, with which he was able to defeat even the best in the world."