Cycle-ball Worlds: Hrdlička and Kripner miss out on a medal in fourth
Jiří Hrdlička Sr. and Jan Kripner finished fourth at the cycle-ball World Championships in Ludwigsburg. A 4-0 quarter-final win over Belgium on Saturday put the Czech pair among the last four, but on Sunday, 1 November, they lost both of their medal matches: 4-3 to hosts Germany in the semi-final and 10-2 to Switzerland in the bronze-medal game.
Against Germany, the Czechs trailed 3-1 at half-time, the Czech Cycling Federation reports. Hrdlička pulled one back with a shot from one end of the court to the other, but then failed to convert a penalty and a free hit. Germany added a fourth goal, and the Czechs could only reduce the deficit to 4-3.
In the third-place match, Switzerland went 2-0 up early. Hrdlička said his team then lost the focus it had kept for two days, though overall the tournament had gone well. Coach Miroslav Berger singled out the players' performance on Saturday and felt the semi-final could have turned out differently had the penalties gone in.
Hrdlička is 52, his partner 28 years younger. They have played together for five years and have now reached a World Championship as a pair for the first time. Retirement is not on Hrdlička's mind: he intends to keep playing for as long as his legs let him pedal.