In professional sports, one of the best parts is when the underdogs write their own Cinderella story. Teqball is one of those sports where you can fulfil your dreams, and that is exactly what happened on Day 3 of the World Teqball Championships 2024.

We are through the majority of the singles competitions, so Day 3 was all about the doubles in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The women’s and the men’s categories were played simultaneously in the first sessions, and we were not short of shockers early on.

Despite being longshot contenders in the men’s doubles, Romanians Arnold Szilagyi/Hunor Kristaly were shown the 'STOP' sign by Declan Gonsalves/Anas Beg in the Round of 16. That match could not have been much closer as both sets went to the Indians by the score of 12:11. By advancing to the quarterfinals and facing Ukrainians Dmytro Shevchuk/Oleh Usychenko (who completed the comeback versus the Montenegrins Marko Zarkovic/Andrija Jovanovic a round earlier), history was already in the making as one of those units were guaranteed a medal, which would have been the first for both nations. Their match was understandably filled with emotions, drama, scoring sprees and beautiful rallies, and after all, India came out on top, winning the third set 12:9 and advancing to the semifinal.

“It is amazing, the first time we qualified for the semis, unbelievable! We were dreaming of it, but to see it actually come true is unbelievable. We were not aware that the Ukrainians were playing for the same achievement, but we also closed out everything and focused on one point at a time. We were down to 9:0 in the first set, but we cooled down and stepped up our game after that. We discussed that a realistic and doable goal would be the quarterfinals, we got a bit lucky with the draw, and it worked in our favour. We will stick to our plan in the semis, play our game against whoever comes next, and will give our best for sure!“ - said India’s newest heroes after the game.

In the semis they will face another Asian team, Jirati Chanliang/Sorrasak Thaosiri from Thailand, who cruised through the first three rounds, not allowing more than 12 points in any of their matches.

We were teased by an early 'could-have-been-a-classic', too, as last year’s silver medallists Matheus Ferraz/Rodrigo Bento Medeiros went up against Adrian Duszak/Marek Pokwap in the QFs, however, the Polish side crushed the Brazilian to secure themselves a spot in the top 4. There, they are going to meet defending champs Csaba Banyik/Balazs Katz (HUN), who made it look easy against Aleksandr Obidin/Evgenii Gavronin (RTA), Gegham Simonyan/Rafayel Vardanyan (ARM) and Lukas Flaks/Matej Kubovy (CZE), respectively, allowing a combined 17 points during those matches.

In the women’s doubles, title holders Jutatip Kuntatong/Suphawadi Wongkhamchan (THA) saved  some energy for the final day as they dominated their way to the semifinal, not allowing more than four points in any of their sets. They will probably be tested heavier on Sunday versus Nanna Lind Kristensen/Mira Faeno Dahlmann (DEN), who managed to come back against Alicja Bartnicka/Zaneta Cygora (POL) in the quarterfinals, winning the tie-breaker in overtime (13:11). Kristensen, who finished 3rd at the European championships a year ago, will win her second medal at a major tournament, and was obviously happy after the match:

“It means a lot! I was shaking a bit, but my partner, Mira was really supportive, I could see the fire in her eyes so I knew that even though it was a close third set, we would win it. It was an intense game, for sure! We know Poland is a great team, but so we are, and we believed in ourselves, that was our mindset and the key to success. We are going to watch a lot of videos of the Thai team, last year we lost really badly against them in the group stage, so we will take a look at that match, too.”

In the other bracket, it is going to be the rematch of the semifinal in 2023 between Brazil and Hungary, but with a slightly different lineup, as this time, Krisztina Acs represents Hungary alongside Petra Pechy. Last year’s runner-ups were seriously challenged by Kamar Dandal/Maria Chedid as the Lebanese team lost the first set by just a single point. The Hungarians shifted gears in the second and proceeded to the top 4. Ester Viana Mendes/Vania Moraes da Cruz, who collected a bronze in Bangkok, confidently eliminated Mara D’Alessandro/Eleonora Cunsolo (ITA) and Daytona Hansen/Nelly Wilke (GER), respectively.

To end the busiest day of the event, the mixed doubles took place with plenty of contenders in the field. Since there were so many of them, it was inevitable to have incredible matchups as early as the quarterfinals, and some of them could have been the final, too.

For instance, Bartnicka/Pokwap faced Kinga Barabasi/Apor Gyorgydeak (ROU), 2019 bronze-medallists Maja Umicevic/Nikola Mitro met defending champs Wongkhamchan/Phakpong Dejaroen (THA), Amelie Julian/Hugo Rabeux (FRA) played with three-time runner-ups Vania Moraes da Cruz/Leonardo Lindoso de Almeida, while Acs/Katz went up against Chedid/Ahmad Arabi. And to nobody’s shock, all matches drew huge crowds.

The Romanian-Polish derby was surprisingly one-sided, the 2023 4th-place team just could not find the solution to the newly formed supergroup. Acs/Katz also managed to finish off the Lebanese team quite quickly, meanwhile, the Serbians did their best to dethrone the Thais, but the champs created enough separation to hold them off in both sets. Organizers anticipated well what could be the hardest-fought war as they put the French-Brazilian clash to Table 1. They were right as Moraes da Cruz/Lindoso de Almeida took the early lead and were in control of the second set, too, but Julien/Rabeux rallied back, equalized and did not look back in the third set, thus knocking out the three-time silver-winners to make it to the semifinals.

“It was an amazing game against Brazil and we finally won against them after losing to them in a Miami final back in 2023. This is the first time I have reached the semifinal at a World Teqball Championships, so I could not be happier!” - said Amelie Julien after the victorious thriller.

With these results, Thailand became the only nation with representatives in the final four in each category.

On Day 4, the stakes will get even higher in Ho Chi Minh City as we will crown the singles champions, the Queen and the King of Teqball!

Starting at 3:00 PM local time, two former silver-medallists will face each other in the women’s singles first semifinal. Polish Paulina Lezak finished 2nd in 2021, while Jutatip Kuntatong (THA) won silver in 2023, and now one of them will surely have the chance to compete for the gold once again. They have not clashed to date, so it will be a new experience for both players.

Following this game, defending champion Rafaella Fontes (BRA) will go up against bronze-medallist Kinga Barabasi (ROU), which is going to be the rematch of their only previous meeting, occurring also in the semis in Bangkok last year.

In the men’s singles, 2022 champion Apor Gyorgydeak (ROU) faces Thai Boonkoom Tipwong (who already became the first Asian individual male WCh medallist) in the first semifinal. Their common history is not so rich, the Romanian eliminated the Thai in straight sets in the TWS Madrid semifinal earlier this year. After them, reigning champ Adrian Duszak (POL) will take the stage against Nikola Mitro, who made history on Thursday by winning Serbia’s first-ever medal in singles. They have not played each other before, the question is who can take advantage of that.

Do not miss the action and join us on TEQ TV on YouTube for the beginning of the endgame!