This week, Badminton Europe’s “Centre of Excellence” welcomed Martina Repiska (Slovakia).
She spent one full week practicing in Holbaek Sportsby. It was Repiska’s third visit to the CoE, the first two being during the women’s singles camps organized by Badminton Europe. We asked Martina to share her impressions about the Centre:
-I found it “enjoyable” to work hard and push the limits every day. What I liked the most was the high intensity and the overall structure of all the trainings. Besides, I will highlight the professional environment that includes coaches’ commitment, players’ discipline and the positive atmosphere.
After a long training period, Martina is ready to start her tournament cycle. She has been selected to play for Slovakia's Women’s Team in the European Men's and Women's Team Championships in Lievin, France next week.
In the women’s event Slovakia has been placed in Group 4 and will face Germany, Latvia and Portugal.
Special event for Milan Dratva
CoE player Milan Dratva (Slovakia) will represent his country in the Men’s event. In Group 6, Slovakia will face the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Lithuania. For the three-time National Champion, team events are always special:
-There’s always great atmosphere in the team and all players bring their absolute best. We don’t just play for ourselves, we play for our friends and our country. I hope we can challenge the favorites and dismiss the slight underdogs in our group. And if we all try our hardest, who knows what might happen.
This week, Dratva was playing in the Iran Fajr International Challenge. He lost in the quarterfinals in a three-setter to Canada’s Xiaodong Sheng, who went on to win the tournament.
-I managed to bring my game up to the standard even when things weren’t working and brought a lot of small things I’ve been focusing on in training to the matches. I couldn’t be entirely happy about the result, as I believed I could do better, Dratva told Badminton Europe.