The first day of July is also the last day of Teqball in the European Games 2023 Kraków-Maloposka, which is also the sport's first European Championship and Lea Vasas re-wrote the history books.

The program started with the women’s clash, where the favourites (Lea Vasas&Zsanett Janicsek from Hungary, Kinga Barabasi&Katalin Dako from Romania) won their groups (A and B) without giving up a set. In contrast, matches in groups C and D gave a hint about what to expect during the elimination phase. The French duo of Amelie Julian and Elisa Lanche played one of the longest games of the whole tournament against Nanna Lind Kristensen and Mira Fænø Dahlmann, and eventually, the single’s silver medallist and her partner completed the comeback against the Danish team with the third set ending at 16:14.

The bronze medallist in women's singles Nanna Lind Kristensen and her partner, Mira Fænø Dahlmann

In group D, Alicja Barnicka and Ewa Kaminska also cruised through this phase, but every match they were not involved in went to three sets. The Serbian team of Anastasija Lemajic&Maja Umicevic edged both the Moldovian (Viorica Tonu&Laura-Maria Mereuta) and the Austrian (Andrea Sommer&Nina Steinbauer) team out, thus finishing second and advancing to the quarterfinals.

Due to the weather conditions, the bouts of the group stages were played on day 3 (30 June), in the evening. Shortly after 2 PM on the 1st of July, the competition resumed, and the top-ranked Hungarian twosome blazed through the quarterfinal against Kristensen and Dahlman, then the semifinal versus the home team to advance to the final.

Barabasi and Dako also kept their immaculate record on their way to the gold medal game as they defeated the Serbian pair first, then the French duo in the semifinal.

Bartnicka and Kaminska outdueled Julian and Lanche for 3rd place in two sets, meaning that Bartnicka won another bronze medal after the first she got in the mixed doubles.

Bronze medal game, women's doubles:

Bartnicka/Kaminska (POL) - Julian/Lanche (FRA) 2-0 (9-, 10-)

“It felt like this amazing crowd was the third member of our team, and with their help, we were able to achieve this fantastic bronze, something that we never expected. It exceeds our sweetest dreams and it makes it even sweeter that we accomplished it at the beautiful main square of Kraków” - said the joyful Bartnicka.

Bartnicka/Kaminska (POL) against Julian/Lanche (FRA) for the bronze medal.

Two newly crowned European champions faced off in the final with Barabasi being the singles winner, and Vasas was triumphant in the mixed doubles alongside Balazs Katz.

The match lived up to the expectations.

The world champions jumped off to an early 4-1 lead and were able to extend it as the first set evolved. The Romanians tried to fight back, but the Hungarians managed to keep their 5-6 points advantage throughout the set and even add one more point to it at the end. They carried the momentum onto the second set, however, the Romanian team successfully erased their deficit and equalized at 5. The teams went back and forth, and the Romanians put together an impressive finish to close out the Hungarians and make it 1-1. The championship-deciding set became as tight as it gets but this time the Hungarian twosome’s finish was better and they were able to capitalize on their first match point. Vasas and Janicsek won it with a score of 2:1, and it made Vasas the sport’s first-ever two-time European champion.

Final, women’s doubles:

Vasas/Janicsek (HUN) - Barabasi/Dako (ROU) 2-1 (5-, -9, 8-)

“We played a terrific match against Barabasi and Dako. It was highly exciting and we are proud of ourselves for winning it. And it makes me even happier that right now I’m the only two-time world and European Champion!” - said Vasas after the final.

“We could not start the final on the needed level, our path was too easy and we did not need to switch gears until the final. We were not able to play our best, except in the second set, the one we ultimately won. We came for gold so we’re a bit disappointed, but we take it as a lesson and we know what we have to work on. My serves were not on point so we let them control the play and we were forced to defend and that is the main reason we ended up with the silver medal” - added Katalin Dako.

Lea Vasas is Teqball's only two-time world and European champion.