Her German opponent Nina Mittelham had to give up injured in the third set after losing two sets 9:11 and 2:11. Polcanova scored 4:0 in the final. Polcanova had also won women’s doubles gold with Romania’s Bernadette Szocs.
Only second gold medal for Austria in singles
It was the tenth EM gold medal for Austria’s table tennis, but only the second in singles after Liu Jia 2005 in Aarhus (DEN). At the European Championships in Munich, where EM medals were awarded in nine sports, Austria has four gold medals and two silver and two bronze medals each.
Polcanova was initially not really happy after her opponent gave up. “I have no words at all. Of course I didn’t want to win like that today, it’s really such a shame for Nina. She deserves the title just as much as I do,” said the woman from Linz to the audience in the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle. “I know how she feels because I was injured for two years and always fought my way back. But of course it’s a completely different situation in a final. I’m sad and I don’t know what to feel.”
Already in the second sentence she noticed that her opponent was no longer fit. “She wasn’t moving as well and it was something with her shoulder.”
Source: Nachrichten
