Montenegrin para table tennis player Luka Bakić finished his performance at the European Championships in Helsingborg with a silver medal.
Today, in the final match of the S10 category, he was defeated by the Pole Patrick Czajnowski 3:1, in sets of 12:10, 11:4, 9:11 and 11:3.
By reaching the final, he achieved the greatest success of his career and won his first individual European medal.
Bakić repeated his performances from the quarterfinal and semifinal duels in the final, playing the match at a top level, but even that wasn't enough to surprise the great champion.
The official and multiple European, world and Paralympic champion confirmed his class and title of the best in the S10 category.
In the first half of the match, Bakić had a set point with the score 10:9 and a chance to take the lead, but he did not use it, so Čajnovski tied the score at 12:10.
The Polish ace crowned his better game in the second set with a 2:0 lead, while Bakić was better in the third, more precise and confident, and reduced the lead to 2:1.
The Pole's experience and quality were particularly evident in the fourth set, as he took the lead at the start and maintained it until the end.
"I enjoyed it, it was a great tournament from the beginning to the final. I put up a good fight against the world's best table tennis player. It's hard to play against him, but today I may have played the best table tennis of my career," said Bakić.
He emphasized that the Pole is much better and it is a great honor that he is so undefeated at that level.
"I can be proud of my game, I enjoyed it from the first to the last point. Perhaps the referee's warning for the forehand serve made my performance even better, because it was no longer the same. I was more careful in the rest of the game so that I wouldn't get a point taken away from me. Excellent performance, I'm satisfied," said Bakić.
He emphasized that Helsingborg is a happy city for Montenegrin sports.
"We made history here in 2019. Filip played in the final, now I was a finalist. An incredible experience," said Bakić.
Bakić also has a European team bronze medal in his career, won six years ago in the same hall, in a team with Filip Radović and Dejan Bašanović.
He finished the group competition as second place in the first group, with a mediocre performance.
He was defeated at the start by Frenchman Mathieu Bohas 3:1, while in the direct match for second place he defeated German Mio Wagner 3:0.
In the quarterfinal match, he defeated Spaniard Marlon Lopez 3:0 (11:8, 11:3 and 11:3), while in the semifinals he eliminated Pole Igor Mištal.
The other Montenegrin representative in Helsingborg, Filip Radović, was disqualified from the European Championship, even though he made it to the quarterfinals.
Montenegrin table tennis had a finalist at the European Championship in the S10 category for the third year in a row, after Radović was a player in the gold medal match in Helsingborg in 2019 and Sheffield four years later.
Five individual and one team medal were won.
Montenegrin table tennis players in Helsingborg were led by coach Čedomir Damjanović, assisted by Dejan Bašanović.
After six years, Helsingborg once again hosted the best European table tennis players, with 264 competitors from 37 countries competing for medals.
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