The Teqball World Series 2024 will conclude in Budapest. The choice of city is no coincidence, as teqball celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and where better to do so than where it was born? The event, taking place from October 3 to 6, will feature the world's best pairs competing in three categories, with a prize pool of $30,000.

After a year-long break, the International Teqball Federation (FITEQ) has brought the Teqball World Series back to its competition calendar, which has visited three continents this year. The series kicked off in Madrid in May, then moved to Quy Nhon, Vietnam in June, followed by a stop in Tulsa, USA, before returning to Asia in Qingdao, China. Following the Olympic Games, the series headed back to China, specifically Beijing, and now, in the first week of October, it will reach its finale in Budapest with 107 athletes representing 20 nations from 3 different continents at the Sterbinszky Amália Handball Arena.

The last major international competition in Hungary took place 14 months ago at the end of July 2023, and local players are eager to prove themselves at home. Two-time world champion and current world number one in two categories, Csaba Banyik mentioned in Beijing that the tournament in Esztergom remains one of the worst experiences of his life, which makes him particularly motivated. Similarly, Romanian Apor Gyorgydeak, who leads the men’s singles WR and has been unbeaten in 36 matches, noted that he is looking forward to the Budapest event and aims to finish it with another gold medal.

A quality field will be present in Budapest: there will be Polish Adrian Duszak, the 2023 World Championship gold medalist and his young and extremely talented partner, Marek Pokwap. Also joining are Serbians Nikola Mitro/Bogdan Marojevic, who are three-time world champions in doubles, Gyorgydeak and 4-time world champ Adam Blazsovics, as well as French heavyweights Julien Grondin and Hugo Rabeux. Grondin will partner with Polish Bartlomiej Franczuk, who has made a name for himself with his spectacular moves.

Banyik/Balazs Katz will try to go back-to-back after Beijing, while Adam Bako/Matyas Odnoga are looking to retake their crown in a Hungarian event. Montenegrins Marko Zarkovic/Andrija Jovanovic have yet to compete in a major tournament in 2024, so it could be their time to showcase their development, and the field contains teams from outside of Europe as duos from Canada, Iraq and Kuwait are also coming to Budapest.

On the women’s side, 2022 World and 2023 European champions Lea Vasas and Zsanett Janicsek (HUN) will reunite, while the Polish team will also arrive with a strong contingent that features Alicja Bartnicka/Zaneta Cygora and Agnieszka Rybicka/Aleksandra Orzechowska. European champion and world bronze medalist Kinga Barabasi (ROU) teams up with Viorica Tonu from Moldova, while European championship 3rd place Nanna Lind Kristensen will play alongside fellow Danish Mira Faeno Dahlmann. World silver medalists Petra Pechy/Nora Vicsek (HUN) are also medal contenders in front of their home crowd, just like Krisztina Acs/Gabriella Kota (HUN), not to mention Zsofia Dezsenyi (HUN) who forms a duo with Amelie Julian (FRA).

And how about the mixed doubles, where it is almost impossible to predict the outcome? Acs/Banyik are on a hot streak, but their friends Kota/Katz would like to conquer Budapest, too. Vasas/Bako won the world champs less than two years ago together so it would make no sense to write them off, and Pechy/Blazsovics, Vicsek/Odnoga, Janicsek/Martin Csereklye also aim for a medal. Teams from other nations do not want to witness Hungarian hegemony and they have a great chance to prevent it: Barabasi/Gyorgydeak could be considered favorites, just like Julian/Rabeux, Bartnicka/Pokwap, Anastasija Lemajic/Marojevic and Kristensen/Duszak. That is a stacked field.

The event kicks off with the mixed doubles on Thursday and continues with the men’s doubles on Friday. On Saturday the spotlight will be taken by the women, while Sunday features the finals in all three categories.

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