Tatiana Kukuľková Wins Women's Doubles Gold at European Table Tennis Championships

Slovak table tennis player Tatiana Kukuľková and Poland’s Natalia Bajorová won the gold medal in the women’s doubles at the European Table Tennis Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia, defeating fellow Polish pair Zuzanna Wielgosová and Anna Brzyská 3:0 in the final on Saturday, as reported by TASR.

Ljubljana Arena Stožice Final Produces Straight-Sets Victory

Playing from the fifth seed position in the tournament bracket, Kukuľková and Bajorová secured the title with set scores of 12, 8, 11 against the tenth-seeded Polish duo. The opening set saw the champions prevail 14:12. In the second frame, the eventual winners built an 8:4 lead and closed it out 11:8. The third set featured a tense rally from a 5:9 deficit, culminating in a 13:11 finish.

Semifinal Upset Over Top Seeds Sets Up Title Run

The path to the gold medal match ran through a dominant semifinal victory on Friday, where Kukuľková and Bajorová swept the tournament’s top-seeded Romanian pair, Bernadette Szöcsová and Elizabeta Samarová, 3:0 in sets. The Slovak-Polish combination previously claimed a bronze medal together at the European Championships in Linz, where they narrowly missed the final by a single point. For Kukuľková, this Ljubljana triumph marks the largest achievement of her career.

Illness and Limited Training Preceded Continental Triumph

Slovakia women’s national team head coach Jaromír Truksa admitted to TASR that he initially doubted the pair’s prospects after Kukuľková entered the championship following an illness and virtually no training. Tatiana bola v chorobe a bez tréningu. Ledva, ledva vyhrali prvý zápas, keď prehrávali 0:2 a otočili to na 3:2, Truksa told TASR, adding that the duo did not drop a single set from the quarterfinals onward. Zlatá medaila, druhá v poradí, je niečo, čo sa momentálne nedá opísať.

Slovenka bola bez tréningu, napriek tomu sa stala majsterkou Európy. Som v šoku, čudoval sa tréner — Photo: Aktuality

Slovak Table Tennis History and International Context

Kukuľková’s victory marks the second time a Slovak player has won the women’s doubles title at the European Championships. In 2024, at the tournament in Linz, Barbora Váradyová (Balážová) triumphed alongside Czech partner Hana Matelová. The Slovak delegation has now secured medals at four consecutive individual European Championships, bringing the country’s total medal haul in the era of independence to seven podium finishes—comprising two golds, two silvers, and three bronzes, all earned in doubles and mixed doubles events.