Sofia Polcanova and Dang Qiu claim European table tennis glory in Munich

Austria's Sofia Polcanova and Germany's Dang Qiu triumphed in vastly different ways on the final day of the 2022 European Table Tennis Championships in Munich, Germany, on Sunday (21 August).

Polcanova, facing home hope Nina Mittelham, needed just 23 minutes to seal the gold medal as her opponent was forced to retire with an injury.

The Austrian took a narrow opening game 11–9 before romping to an 11–2 victory in the second. Polcanova was 3–0 up in the third game before her opponent conceded.

"It’s a very sad situation. I don’t have words for Nina. This is unbelievable," Polcanova admitted. "To give up in the final, I would be so broken. Of course I didn’t want to win like this. I think that I deserve to win but this win is not as beautiful as I had imagined.

"I told myself yesterday that I would cry today, either if I lose or if I win, because this week was such a crazy week where I played 15 matches in total and every match was on the edge and I am super empty. My emotions are running so high, I don’t know what to think."

In the men's singles final, meanwhile, Qiu faced a tough test from Slovenia's Darko Jorgic.

The German dropped the opening game 10–12 before winning another tight game in the second 14–12 to level the scores.

Qiu did not establish a dominance on either of the next two games, although he took both 11–8 and 11–9 before pulling away in the fifth and ultimately deciding game, winning 11–2 to seal the 4–1 win overall.