The European University Water Polo Championship EUSA Water Polo 2023 was held in Miskolc between 13-19 July, for which UP qualified for the first time with a silver medal at MEFOB. The close-knit UP Water Polo Team, the backbone of which was PVSK Mecsek Füszért and the UP PEAC Mighty Bulls, won one match after the other, and only the strongest team could beat them, so they closed the championship with an amazing silver medal. We asked coach Gergely Lukács about the final match.
"We did everything we could this week to perform at our best and squeeze the team of Budapest Business School. The result of the final match shows how it went today. We fought from the first moment to the last, but BBS deserved the gold medal completely, and I congratulate them for that" – said Gergely Lukács, coach of the UP Water Polo Team, and added: "we are extremely happy as well that we ended this tournament with a silver medal. Perhaps, more importantly, we spent an unforgettable week here. It was great to see how the players in Pécs colours and different divisions became a properly unified team, and a strong cohesion was created between them during matches, training, in the dining room and the evening programs.
We have seen the development of very close-knit team, including the members of the badminton team. They really became a good UP community, that spent this nice trip together, and they ended up with a very nice silver medal."
Analysing the decisive match, the coach said that, in his opinion, a realistic result was achieved. "We are very proud to celebrate the centenary year by winning medals at every event where we competed in water polo. The water polo team finished second at the Medical Cup, we finished second at MEFOB, we won the OB II with PEAC, and now we also brought home a silver medal from the European University Championship" – we learned from Gergely Lukács, who is also a member of the board of the Hungarian Water Polo Federation in addition to his position as PSN's youth manager. Regarding the future, he said: "we are working to make progress in the coming years.
We would like to promote and strengthen university sports, especially water polo. This will be an important task for me in the coming years, not only in Pécs, but also at the federal level."
"Thank you to all our supporters, the University of Pécs, the UP Sports Office and PEAC (Athletic Club, University of Pécs) for allowing us to participate in this championship", the head coach highlighted, and said about the period following the season finale: "this team will no longer stay together in this form, as the season has ended, the 2023/24 season will already begin. Everyone will return to their own clubs, to PVSK, PEAC, some will graduate, and new students will come. The composition changes a bit from year to year, we may not always be so successful, but we will always keep our image, our good mood, diligent and humble work ethic. This is a very good little community. Everyone feels about the grand finale because we did our best into it, and today the opponent was better, that is how it goes in sports."
It is a special honour that Márton Keresztúri received the most valuable player award in the colours of the University of Pécs.
- University of Pécs – Budapest Business School: 10 : 16 | (14 July)
- University of Pécs – University of Oxford: 22 : 5 | (15 July)
- University of Pécs – Corvinus University of Budapest: 18 : 11 | (15 July)
- University of Pécs – Delft University of Technology: 21 : 5 | (16 July)
- University of Pécs – University of Debrecen: 12 : 5 | (17 July)
- University of Pécs – University of Bristol: 6 : 0 | (17 July)
- Semifinal: PTE – Corvinus University of Budapest: 12 : 8 | (18 July)
- Final: UP – Budapest Business School: 9 : 14 | (19 July)
Members of the University of Pécs Water Polo Team: Attila Aranyi, Péter Buttinger, Tamás Csorba, Bence Gergő, Márton Keresztúri, Márton Lajkó, Márk Majnik, Balázs Németh, Balázs Rácz-Fodor, Patrik Reisz, Benjamin Sipos, Tamás Tóth-Gili, Ákos Varga.
