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Emma Raducanu failed to make it through the qualifying rounds of the women’s European Table Tennis Championships in Austria on Sunday, losing in the quarterfinals to Maticka Butila. In Sunday’s final match of the day, the Polish player Briozge Rozmus, the reigning European champion, overpowered South Korea’s Seung-Hee Yoon 6-0, 6-1 to lift the gold medal. World No. 4 Aruna Quadri of India settled for silver after losing to number 39 Renata Negru of Russia.
Raducanu and Rozmus’s exits mean that Kasia Strusowska and Lydia Cottrell – both European medalists – will take the women’s team field to the semifinals. Quadri and Łukasz Kalawski, the men’s world No. 2, had already qualified for the semifinals.
In 2012, Raducanu represented the Polish national team in Barcelona, but she then stepped away from international competition to pursue a business career. Her departure from the national team was blamed by some as a reason for her inability to progress in recent competitions.
Last year, Raducanu began a coaching course in her hometown of Poznan, but during that time she also made the decision to dismiss her old coach and hire former world No. 3 Daniel Woonton, who had accompanied her for her tenure with the national team. The 37-year-old Guldbruzsehme player has had a successful time since the birth of her family in Poland. “I never thought I would be in Austria (touring as a coach) again at 37,” she told the BBC earlier this year. “I have learned a lot in the last 12 months — especially after having my little girl, Gelia.”
With the new arrival, Raducanu announced in a statement on Sunday that she had named Maticka Butila as her new head coach. “She will be supporting me on and off the court, and will also be doing a lot of role coaching,” she said. “I’m very happy to have her as my coach.”