Fedoruk's triumph at the BETARD WSF World Masters Championships 2022
The Masters World Championship ended this weekend. More than 1,500 matches were played with 650 players at the week-long squash festival. The tournament was held at Hasta La Vista, the largest squash club in the world. In fact, the organizers of the tournament have been waiting a long time to hold it, as it was originally planned for 2020, but it was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the end, we think the wait was worth it and the event was unforgettable.
Valery Fedoruk says: "I planned to participate in this competition in advance... For this year, this tournament was a priority for me in my competition schedule. So, when it was clear that it would definitely happen, I started preparing for this event.
"I took part in the Masters competition for the first time and also the World Championship for the first time. I was surprised by the large number of participants, it was the first time I saw so many players at one event."
Despite Fedoruk's competitive debut at the Masters Championship, the experienced athlete, seeded at number 3/4, easily overcame his opponents in the first three matches, winning consecutively with a score of 3:0.
Valery adds: "When the list of participants was formed, I realized that I have a high chance of being in the prizes at least, and winning these competitions as a maximum. He was a little bit unable to execute the plan well for the fifth game in the semi-final against Christo Potjiter, but instead he executed his flawlessly, and as a result it was only left to play for the bronze.
For the third place, I played with the representative of Pakistan, Kama Khan, my colleagues from the Ukrainian national team once played with him - cunning, technical and with a lot of experience. I won this match in three close games and I was very, very happy about it.
And, of course, I was pleased to stand on the podium in front of five hundred spectators and participants of the competition."
World Masters 2022 (M35+) match results:
Valerii Fedoruk [3/4] Ukraine - Latvia Jānis Bogušs 11-2 11-8 11-4
Valerii Fedoruk [3/4] Ukraine - Finland Tuomas Häkkinen [9/4] 11-8 11-3 11-5
Valerii Fedoruk [3/4] Ukraine - Israel Nadav Tannen [9/4] 11-5 11-5 11-5
Valerii Fedoruk [3/4] Ukraine - South Africa Christo Potgieter [2/4] 5-11 11-9 11-9 6-11 6-11
Karamatullah Khan [5/8] Pakistan - Ukraine Valerii Fedoruk [3/8] 9-11 11-13 10-12
