UTT 2024: Globetrotter Bernadette Szocs hails Indian hospitality, says wearing bindi ‘a special gesture for India’

When other nine-year-olds in most parts of the world were developing either the required grip, confidence or intricate motor skills to graduate to writing with the pen from pencil, Bernadette Cynthia Szőcs was making the ping-pong ball turn square on the table with her paddle at CS Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud, predominantly a football club in Romania.

Today, the table tennis fraternity stands indebted to her brother Hunor, himself a professional, for gifting the world the sensational Bernie—as Szőcs is often lovingly called— whose tomahawk and pendulum are services to swear by.

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“I started this sport because of my brother. I went to a tournament, where he was participating, with my parents. I saw him very happy after he won his first medal there. At that very moment, I felt something inside me that said I should start playing this sport. I told this to my parents when we returned home that day. The next day itself, I found myself in that same hall. When I put the first ball on the table, I felt that was something I could dedicate my life to,” says Szőcs as she sits down with  Sportstar for an exclusive interaction here.

She is in India to lead Ahmedabad SG Pipers in the ongoing Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) league. She has had an impressive outing thus far, having only been put under the pump by Ayhika Mukherjee’s anti-type rubber on the backhand, which saw the 29-year-old concede a hapless 3-0 sweep.

“I love it here. People are very friendly and they welcome you very nicely,” Szőcs says.

This is not her first tryst with Indian hospitality. She first turned up in the colours of the now-defunct Falcons TTC in UTT 2018 before switching to Dabang Delhi TTC two seasons ago.

In love with Indian culture, Szőcs has also got her manager to get her a traditional  bindi. Sporting the tiny ornament, commonly worn by Hindu women in between the eyebrows, has become common practice for Szőcs during her UTT outings.

“It was my idea. I love it. This is something special for India. I always like to try new things and be creative,” she says.

Szőcs is indeed creative. In fact, she is one of the pioneers when it comes to making fashion statements on the TT floor, long before Manika Batra and gang made the news for wearing innovative nail art.

She says, “I love to make the design of our flag in the biggest tournaments like the Olympics, World Championship, European Championship on all my nails. Each time it is a different model because I feel proud when I’m representing my country. I have to do things a little bit different than others.”

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Probably the only things that don’t sit well with Szőcs are Indian food and the variety of rubbers that the country is known to manufacture.

“I have tried Indian cuisine. Sometimes, it gets too spicy for me… The rubbers in India are also very different. You get the short pimples and long pimples. Armed with those, you can stop the ball, cut the attack. It gets difficult. You cannot see this anywhere in the world. India is special for this.”

Szőcs is a globetrotter when it comes to featuring in table tennis leagues. Besides India, she has featured in tournaments in her home country, Spain and Germany. This curious mix of experiences from across nations has ensured she hones her skills further.

“In every country, on different tours, the experiences are different. So, from everywhere I learn something good. It is always very nice to go play in different leagues, because I like to observe and learn new things. UTT has been very special. A good thing about this league is the mixed team event, where men and women play together. That sees a combination of different player levels as well. Now, we have the new mixed team World Cup also (which started in 2023). So, it’s always nice to play mixed events nowadays,” she explains.

Szőcs is currently the best European player on the tour. And it is incredibly rare to have a player from the said continent occupy a seat in the top echelons of the sport, largely dominated by Asians. To hold on to her spot in the global rankings—13th—itself is very difficult, let alone the fact that it will be an uphill climb from here to squeeze into the top 10.

“It’s a lot of pressure to be there. It’s easier to go inside top 15, but it gets increasingly difficult thereon to make top 10 or top five in the world. We really have to maintain the ranking. Of course, it’s a very nice feeling, it’s a lot of pleasure to be there. But you need to demonstrate that you belong there. Without good results, you cannot keep your ranking. It’s very hard to stay in the top 10-15 in the world always. So, we need to be well-prepared for all the tournaments we play. I have been there in top 10. Now I am in top 15, but of course, my goal is to be in top five. I am hoping to soon get back in top 10. I will work hard for this and never give up.”

Szőcs knows she has it in her to push for the idiomatic extra mile. For only a handful have taken down the wall that goes by the name of Chen Meng, the Chinese World No. 2, who took the singles and team gold medals in both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. And Szőcs has slayed the giant not once, but twice, at the WTT Champions in Macao in 2022 and Frankfurt last year.

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“It (Macao 2022) wasn’t just the best moment of my career but also my dream come true. It is both special and unique to feel that I beat the Olympic champion. When I beat her the second time, I wanted to tell myself that the first win was not just because of luck.”

However, Szőcs didn’t have the best of outings in the recently concluded Paris Olympics, having exited from the round of 16 in singles, the quarterfinals in mixed doubles with Ovidiu Ionescu, and round of 16 in the team event. She says, “This was my worst Olympics. Expected minimum fourth or fifth place here. I don’t want to speak about the team event because that was a very sad moment for me.”

In the team event, Romania was up against India’s Manika, Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath. Manika and Co. sailed past with a 3-2 scoreline. Manika, in fact, didn’t allow Szőcs to pick a single game from their fixture, which ended with a scoreline of 11-5, 11-7, 11-7. That may have hurt Szőcs a fair bit, but she maintains that the duo continues to be buddies off the court.

“We’re like 50-50. She beat me there. I have beaten her earlier. So, you never know which day who’ll be better. I can have a bad day. She can have a bad day as well. It’s a matter of a few seconds. I’m very good friends with her. We know a lot about each other and we always try to help each other.”

Szőcs’ soothsaying skills were on point as she went on to turn the tables on Manika in UTT-5, romping past the PBG Bengaluru Smashers star 7-11, 11-9, 11-7 last Saturday.

Szőcs has her long-term goals figured, which will be to medal at Los Angeles 2028.

“I have my plans sorted for LA, and of course, I want to get much better results than in Paris, but I want to take things step-by-step because we still have four years to go. Before that, we have many important competitions. I would like to concentrate on winning a medal in World Championship and becoming the European champion first.”

For now, Szőcs would have her eyes trained on that maiden UTT title. The fact that she finished runner-up twice in the two seasons prior to the ongoing iteration will have her desperately wanting to cross that final hurdle beyond which, glory, a fat paycheque and bragging rights await.