Inside Polish Sports

Turns out our Maja the Bee not only floats but also stings. The critics that is! Not only did she beat Iga in their first ever main tour clash, but then came back against Sonay Kartal to win her first career title and just to the brink of the Top 10 just two places below Iga and 103 above where she was back in May!

Also, Daniela Hantuchova is surprised that after a nationwide power cut in Spain Iga's psychologist still wanted a meal(Because the microwave was working by then!), two Ekstraklasa clubs sack managers, Natalia Bajor gets our biggest Table Tennis success in years and Daria Pikulik could be at risk of losing an Olympic medal due to missing three doping controls.

On Sunday night the father of a family of Wisła fans was assaulted by Legia anti-fans in the stadium's away sector simply because he, his wife and their kids were invited by Legia fans to one place in a Polish stadium where you are supposed to be safe from danger and the stigma of simply wanting to watch a match without violence. I'll argue why those trojan horse family sectors should be axed and why any separation of away fans simply leads to the police not being available in other places where trouble can happen.

 

Also, our girls make the World Cup playoff finals(Can't wait for Irish Dave to give me a Bailey's after I win a friendly bet), Jan Urban's boys should thank their lucky stars for Romania because otherwise he would be sacked, Cezary Kulesza first is shown drunk(Again!) and then Epsteins the evidence out and Jerzy Brzęczek's U21 team is Hail Mary'ed by Italy's keeper.

Last Sunday, I have finally became a sports journalist by definition, attending my first Hockey game as an accredited member of the press. In this episode I will talk about my experience at the game, the improbable story of how STS Sanok survived thanks to a partnership with a Kyiv club, the recent divorce between the Football and Hockey departments of Cracovia and post-game interviews with:

- Cracovia head coach Krystian Dziubiński

- Cracovia's Canadian centre Sean Montgomery

- Cracovia's Finnish goalie Santeri Lipiainen

- Cracovia's newly minted 700-gamer Damian Kapica

- Sanok's Nikita Zouzila

Link to the fundraiser for Ania Sawicka, the mum of Sanok's Adam and Radosław: https://zrzutka.pl/xnkj6f

Volleyball is our national sport and you are cursed by Danhausen if you disagree! THIRTY major tournament medals between our Men and Women since 2003, and on Saturday Nikola Grbic's dominators won their third European Championship gold in that time span, clinching a spot at the 2028 Olympics. And we created this infallible, laughably consistent machine because we worked together. Universities, Schools, Clubs, Government etc. all created a system of synergy which, without a break, provides us with and supports young players, no matter whether they make the national team as rookies or come back after a 7 year exile and a bout with depression like Bartłomiej Lemański.

Kasia Niewiadoma also is a product of all parties responsible for Polish cycling working together to develop a brilliant talent, albeit one that just lost out on the World title to her archrival Demi Vollering. Whilst Bartosz Zmarzlik is more than anything a product of his own desire and bloody-mindedness, even if we still have to wait for a record seventh World title as Robert Lambert pipped him to the trophy.

As for the Footballers..................I don't even want to expand on that.

It is a fact of both life and Polish sport that Women are just better at everything. Maria Okrucińska proved just that last night in Montreal by winning the World Junior Time Trial title whilst Kasia Niewiadoma will go for the Road Race rainbow jersey on Saturday. Our Under 20 footballers may have gone out of the home World Cup but certainly didn't disgrace themselves after a 100% group stage record. Whilst on the track Klaudia Kazimierska destroyed her more experienced opposition in Brussels, Budapest and now at Crystal Palace.

On the men's side, Jan Urban's first competitive spell as Poland manager is sadly overshadowed by the meerkat on Wojciech Mońka's sweater and how some people have no right in the universe to scout for the fashion police. The Volleyball boys are in the Euro semis but that's where it starts going uphill on the road to the 2028 Olympics. And please don't let Rob Lambert or Brady Kurtz put Bartek Zmarzlik into the boards in case of the World Speedway title being decided in the final heat in Toruń. I'll fight them, you'll fight them, we're all fight them!