On the weekend of 23-25th September 2022 Sophie Barcsai at the age of 13 made her first appearance in a top level Women’s League.
It was a baptism of fire, in doubles together with partner Nora Dohoczki they faced two legends of Hungarian Table Tennis in the form of multiple European Champions; Georgina Pota and Dora Madarasz. Sophie and Nora played incredibly well against their illustrious opponents and although they lost 3-0 they pushed the legends to 12-10 in the second set.
The weekend was to get better for Sophie as the next challenge was to face another of the top teams from the Extra League, Ajka. This team was led by Timea Peterman Varga, a regular competitor on the World Tour and one of the strongest players in Hungary. Sophie set about this latest challenge buoyed by the excellent performance against the Budaorsi team of Gina Pota.
Timea was swept aside by a powerful display of attacking play and controlled positional play by Sophie. Timea, despite a formidable attack of her own could not cope with the soft blocks pulling her in to the net followed by strong attack from Sophie. Sophie took the win 3-0 to notch up her first senior top level win and against a respected and experienced performer. Sophie completed the match with a trio of wins to ensure her team Statisztika took the win 6-3.
It was a spectacular display and although following the successes there were some losses, as is often the case after big wins, the girls helped their team Statisztika win the award for team of the weekend.
Sophie and Nora also notched up another good win in doubles against Imre Leila and Krisztina Ambrus of Erdert SE.
At the completion of the weekend Sophie was Statisztika’s most successful player with 5 singles wins and 2 doubles wins with Nora.
Statisztika Coach Zsusa Olah stated ”the success against Ajka is an absolute surprise, we did not expect such a feat beforehand so our delight was huge”.
Personal Coach Ken Macleod said ”I was delighted, not only with the results but also their manner and the possibilities that open due to the technical progress this weekend”.