Bernadette Szocs reaches doubles quarterfinals at Europe Smash 2026

At the Europe Smash 2026 tournament in Malmo, Sweden, Romanian table tennis player Bernadette Szocs faced a first-round exit in the singles competition. She was defeated 3-0 by Germany’s Nina Mittelham. During the match, Szocs and her coach, Mădălin Ionașcu, expressed frustration over officiating, noting that Szocs received four sanctions for illegal serves. Szocs remarked, “It is so easy to lose if you take away all my serves.”

Despite the singles loss, Szocs found success in the women’s doubles event. Partnering with Elizabeta Samara, the pair defeated Maria Xiao and Anna Hursey 3-1 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Other Romanian performances at the event included Eduard Ionescu, who lost 1-3 in the men’s singles to France’s Felix Lebrun, and the men’s doubles duo of Darius Movileanu and Eduard Ionescu, who fell 0-3 to South Korea’s Oh Junsung and Lim Jonghoon.