BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Salem International University standout and French Olympian Michal Izdinsky scored twice as France dealt the Republic of Korea/South Korea a 16-8 defeat at the Taipei Songshan Sports Center in Taipei City in both teams’ third game of the 29th Summer Universiade/University Games.
France improves to 3-0 at the tournament following a game-high four goal performance by Izdinsky in a 17-5 defeat of the United Kingdom/Great Britain on Friday, August 18, and another four goal output in a 27-0 win versus host Chinese Taipei/Taiwan on Sunday, August 20.
Overall, he shot two-for-five in the game while adding an assist and two steals to raise his tournament totals to 10 goals, four assists and five steals.
France never trailed in the game by running out to a 3-0 lead prior to a response for South Korea. Leading 6-2 at the conclusion of the first quarter, the French pulled away to lead 8-4 by halftime and 13-8 at the conclusion of the third quarter prior to outscoring the Koreans 3-0 in the fourth quarter.
Izdinksy connected on his tallies in the first and second quarters by putting away his team’s fifth strike with 2:31 left in the opening frame. He deposited his second tally with 25 ticks left on the second quarter clock to push the margin to 8-3 prior to a last second man-up marker by South Korea to move within 8-4 at the break.
The victory clinches the Group A title for France as the French will next be in action at 9:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday, August 23, against South Africa which finished last in Pool C.
Featuring a total of 16 teams divided into four pools with Taiwan/Chinese Taipei, France, the Republic of Korea and Great Britain competing in Pool A. Italy, Australia, the Netherlands and Argentina battled in Pool B, with Canada, South Africa, Hungary and Serbia contesting Pool C. The United States, Russia, Japan and Romania squared off in Pool D.
A 2013 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division II All-America to go along with Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Scholar-Athlete Outstanding honors, Izdinsky established a Salem International single season record with 106 goals in his season with the Tigers.
This marks the second major event of the Summer for Izdinsky who helped lead France to a 14th Place finish at the 2017 FINA World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, during last July.
France, competing at the FINA Championship for the first time in 26-years, concluded the tournament with a 1-4 record with losses to Italy (18-9 L; Monday, July 17), Australia (11-10 L; Wednesday, July 19) and Hungary (13-7 L; Friday, July 21) in Group B play prior to claiming a 10-6 defeat of Canada to make the 13th place contest. Competing for 13th against the United States, Francis suffered an 11-8 loss.
Izdinsky concluded the FINA World Championship with two goals as he put away one against both Hungary and Australia. He did not play against Canada due to an injury and failed to score against the United States.
In addition, the University Games are the fourth international tournament since January 2016 for Izdinsky as he was a member of the 2016 French Olympic Team which fell to Montenegro (7-4 L, August 6), Italy (11-8 L, August 8) and Spain (10-4 L, August 10) prior to shocking Croatia (9-8 W, August 14) in Rio de Janeiro. He finished the Olympics with a one-for-11 shooting performance with two assists as he went zero-for-one with an assist against Montenegro, zero-for-three mark against Italy, zero-for-two mark against the United States and zero-for-three versus Spain prior to connecting on a goal to aid his homeland versus Croatia.
Further, Izdinsky scored two goals and dished out five assists to lead the French National Team to a Ninth Place finish at the 2016 European Water Polo Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on January 10-23.
