BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Salem International University standout and French Olympian Michal Izdinsky scored a game-high four times as France dominated the United Kingdom/Great Britan, 17-5, at the Taipei Songshan Sports Center in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) to open the 29th Summer Universiade/University Games.
France, which outscored Great Britain by scores of 5-1, 3-1, 3-1 and 6-1 over the first, second, third and fourth quarters, respectively, never trailed in jumping out to a 4-0 lead on the way to a 12-goal victory.
Already ahead 1-0 in the opening moments of the first quarter, Izdinsky padded his team’s lead to a pair by ripping home a five-meter penalty shot with 5:18 on the clock. He struck again with 4:41 remaining in the second quarter for an even-strength score and an 8-3 lead going into halftime.
He wrapped up his offensive output in the third quarter by drilling in a man-up chance at 6:50 prior to putting away an even-strength marker at 4:28 for back-to-back-to-back scores dating back to his natural tally with 4:41 to go in the first half to make it a 10-3 game.
The tournament features a total of 16 teams as Taiwan/Chinese Taipei, France, the Republic of Korea and Great Britain compete in Pool A. Italy, Australia, the Netherlands and Argentina are playing in Pool B, while the United States, Russia, Japan and Romania battle in Pool D.
France will next be in action on Sunday, August 20, against Taiwan/Chinese Taipei prior to meeting Korea on Monday, August 21 to complete pool play.
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.
