Elen Galetková Makes Her Debut in National Team

The WTT Youth Contender is taking place at the NTC Havířov from May 27 to June 2, with players from all over the world competing. During the first half of the week, the girls' competitions were held, where we were represented by two players – Elen Galetková and Helena Sommerová. For Elen, it was her very first appearance on the international stage.

Elen Galetková competed in two age categories – U13 and U15. Unfortunately, she didn't manage to advance from the group stage in either category, but it was still a valuable experience for her.

"It was a big experience for me to play in the Czech national jersey. I was a little nervous because it was my first international tournament. I'm fairly satisfied with my performance. In U13, I lost a few matches 2:3, while U15 was a lot tougher. The players at the WTT tournaments are definitely stronger than at our domestic BTM events, but on the other hand, there's more time to rest between matches," Elen commented.

Helena Sommerová, our second representative, is much more experienced when it comes to international competitions. She had a much more successful tournament – she advanced from the group stage and made it to the round of 16. On her way, she defeated the second seed and reigning U21 European Champion, Ukraine's Veronika Matiuninova, 3:2, avenging a loss from their previous encounter at the European Championships.

In the match for a spot in the quarterfinals, Helena came up short against Chinese player Ruixuan Yao, the eventual winner of the tournament, losing 1:3.

"To be honest, I didn't have big expectations before the tournament because my injury flared up again and my form hasn't been great – I struggled at the tournament in Poland. Luckily, I managed to get through the group stage and the second day was much better," said Helena.

"My first match in the main draw went smoothly, but I knew facing 'Matuška' would be tough. She's a top-quality player, but I wanted to get revenge for the European Champs, where I was up 7:3 in the seventh set and still lost. I'm really happy I managed to win – it gave me a lot of confidence and it's a great scalp for me."

"The match against Ruixuan didn't go as well. I made a lot of mistakes, especially on the receive, which proved decisive. Still, I'm happy with my performance and I hope to do even better at the upcoming WTT Youth Contender in Berlin," Helena added.

We'll also have male representation in Havířov, with three players from our club – Vít Kadlec, Jindřich Morávek, and Samuel Palušek (who represents Slovakia). All three will compete in the U19 category, which kicks off on Saturday, June 1.

You can follow the live results on the official World Table Tennis website.