Thai Jutatip Kuntatong and Romanian Apor Gyorgydeak were crowned as the Queen and the King of Teqball in Ho Chi Minh City at the World Teqball Championships 2024. The former defeated Brazilian Rafaella Fontes Gimenez in the rematch of the 2023 final, while the latter kept immaculate his record this season.

Aaand finally, it was finals day, and at the end of it, we got to crown the Queen and the King of Teqball.

But first, the contenders had to battle it out in the semifinals, and it was Jutatip Kuntatong and Paulina Lezak, who kicked off the day in the women’s singles. The 2023 silver-medallist Thai put on a great show in the first set, performing stunning bicycle kicks, beautiful harvesters and smart moves, and the 2021 silver-winner Polish could not keep the pace. After the one-sided first set, Lezak stepped on the gas and put Kuntatong to the challenge, however, the Thai turned up the heat and closed her rival out, advancing to her second consecutive WTCH final.

There, she met the reigning world champion Rafaella Fontes Gimenez from Brazil (again), who had to eliminate European champion Kinga Barabasi (ROU) in the second semifinal.

Fontes controlled the first set, maintaining a 2-3 point advantage throughout and took a 1-0 lead. The second was quite the opposite as Barabasi improved a lot and never let the defending champ get even close to her. In the tie-breaker, Fontes erupted to a 6:1 lead and held off Barabasi with great defence and beautiful touches. With the 2:1 victory, she gave herself the chance to defend her title.

In the men’s singles, 2023 runner-up Apor Gyorgydeak (ROU) went up against Asia’s first-ever individual male WTCH medallist, Boonkoom Tipwong (THA) in the semifinal. The European champion and 2022 gold winner dominated in the first period, putting immense pressure on his opponent, but Tipwong also committed plenty of double faults on his own. Somewhat fittingly, his last erroneous serve was the last point of the match, too, as Gyorgydeak won the second set by a whopping 10 points and proceeded to his third consecutive final, but before that, he had to watch the match that decided who was going to be his opponent out of defending champion Adrian Duszak (POL) and Serbia’s first individual WTCH medallist, Nikola Mitro (SRB).

The two players went back and forth and it was Mitro who built a tight advantage and kept it until the end of the first set. Duszak bounced back at the beginning of the second courtesy of his impressive serves and equalized confidently. The third set became a true tie-breaker as Mitro took the early lead, but Duszak caught him midway through the period. The Serbian found some energy and built another little lead, however Duszak evened things up at 10. It could not have been any closer, and eventually, it was Mitro who won the war of nerves and extended his miraculous run in these championships.

Before the finals, Team Vietnam played a gala match against Team Sierra Leone, and the fans really loved the action, just like the spectacular moves made by the local players.

In the long-awaited gold medal game of the women’s singles, Kuntatong got off to a better start but Fontes caught her before coming to the end phase. The rally at 9:9 was reminiscent of the one they played a year ago and went viral, both stars proved that they are the top two players nowadays. Fontes managed to finish stronger and took the first set.

She maintained momentum at the beginning of the second and it looked like she would not have any trouble to close out Kuntatong. However, despite being up at 9:5 and saving most of the Thai’s bicycle kicks, she went cold and Kuntatong managed to snatch the set from her.

Unsurprisingly, they went neck and neck early in the deciding set, then Kuntatong built a 3-point lead that Fontes erased immediately. The Thai again created a small separation, and this time, she fought off Fontes’s attempt to come back, and with an ace, she ended the gold medal game! Showing the utmost respect, she ran to every member of the Brazilian team to congratulate them, and there is no question that both players deserve respect after this epic final. With this victory, Kuntatong became the first women’s singles world champion from Asia and the 4th Queen of Teqball altogether. The series is alive as now we have four individual champs from four different continents!

Final, women’s singles

Jutatip Kuntatong (THA)–Rafaella Fontes Gimenez (BRA) 2:1 (-10, 10, 9)

„I am thrilled to win the gold medal for Thailand and it is great that I could win this year after losing last year. Rafaella [Fontes] is an incredible player, it was a tough battle against her, but it always is.”

After the celebration, Gyorgydeak and Mitro stepped to the centre table. The Serbian won two of the first three rallies, and then the Romanian jumped on a rocketship and flew by the Serbian with a 6:0 run. Mitro tried his best to stay in contentions, but Gyorgydeak’s skill, speed and power were just too much for him (and everybody else in 2024).

The second set was similarly lopsided, Gyorgydeak used everything from his repertoire perfectly, his service game, his smashes and his defence were uncanny. The Romanian finished the second period even faster than the first, thus taking his crown back and becoming the undisputed King of Teqball in 2024. Nobody can question his achievements as he stayed undefeated throughout the year, a feat that will be one of the brightest in his legacy. And to put the cherry on top: it was his 50th tournament win.

Final, men’s singles

Apor Gyorgydeak (ROU)–Nikola Mitro (SRB) 2:0 (4, 2)

„I would like to thank my family, my team and my staff who helped me throughout this journey. I felt pretty good during the final and never lost focus and I think everybody could see that. I gave 110% and I’m happy playing in front of a full house. I was disappointed after losing to Adrian [Duszak] last year, but that loss made me even hungrier. I think my results in 2024 speak for themselves, I have a 56-game winning streak so it is great to end this season on a high note in singles. Tomorrow we want to win the mixed doubles with Kinga [Barabasi], we prepared a lot for that. The Thais are the defending champs but we analyzed them precisely, and will do our best against them.”

We saved the best for last: on Sunday, the doubles’ semifinals and finals will take place.

To start the program, women’s doubles defending champions Kuntatong/Suphawadi Wongkhamchan will try to reach the finals for the second consecutive year, but Nanna Lind Kristensen/Mira Faeno Dahlmann, who already claimed the first-ever WTCH medal for Denmark, have other ideas. They met a year ago in the group stage, but that was a match the Danish side would definitely want to forget.

Then we will have another rematch from 2023 as the Brazilians want revenge against the Hungarians. Ester Viana Mendes/Vania Moraes da Cruz had no trouble going to the semifinal, where they will meet the newly formed duo of Krisztina Acs/Petra Pechy. The former won bronze in the mixed category a year ago, the latter took home the silver in this one and she knows what it takes to win against this Brazilian unit in a WTCH semifinal.

After a short break, the men’s doubles take over Table 1. Reigning champions Csaba Banyik/Balazs Katz (HUN) will face their biggest challenge yet because the Polish duo of Duszak/Marek Pokwap looked astonishingly sharp during their blowout win against last year’s runner-ups Matheus Ferraz/Rodrigo Bento Medeiros (BRA). Their only previous meeting (in the European championship semifinal) went to three sets, why would we expect less?

The European derby will be followed by the Asian one: Declan Gonsalves/Anas Beg made history by winning the first medal for India, but they are still hungry and would like to upset Thais Jirati Chanliang/Sorrasak Thaosiri. Interestingly, these two tandems have not played before.

Before we get to the finals, the mixed doubles will sort things out, as well. After upsetting three-time silver-medallists Vania Moraes da Cruz/Leonardo Lindoso de Almeida (BRA), the French team of Amelie Julian/Hugo Rabeux (who made the top 4 for the first time in the WTCHs) have to outduel Acs/Katz in order to best their already-career-high result. In the other semifinal, back-to-back singles bronze-winner Barabasi and now 2-time world champ Apor Gyorgydeak will attempt to dethrone the title holder Thais, Wonkghamchan/Phakpong Dejaroen.

The last day of the World Teqball Championships 24 starts at 11:00 AM local time, and we know you do not want to miss the fireworks, so tune into TEQ TV on YouTube!