BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Salem International University standout and French Olympian Michal Izdinsky scored twice and added an assist in 22:01 of playing time as France ravaged the Republic of South Africa, 13-5, at the Taipei Songshan Sports Center in Taipei City to reach the quarterfinals of the 29th Summer Universiade/University Games.
France, which claimed the Pool A title to earn a matchup with South Africa, improves to 4-0 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. In the final game of Pool A competition, Izdinsky scored twice in 20:50 of playing time as France dealt the Republic of Korea/South Korea a 16-8 defeat.
Courtesy the win over South Africa, France punches its ticket into the quarterfinals where the squad will meet England once again on Friday, March 25, at 3:00 p.m. local time to a spot in the semifinals and a guaranteed Top Four finish in the 16-team (Taiwan/Chinese Taipei, France, South Korea, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, the Netherlands, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, Hungary, Serbia, the United States, Russia, Japan, Romania) tournament field.
Izdinsky inflicted all of his damage in the first quarter for France as he tied the game at one-all with 5:20 left on the clock prior to breaking a three-all tie by drilling a shot from long distance with two seconds left in the frame for a 4-3 French lead.
His second goal would prove to be the turning point in the game as France built its lead to 6-4 by halftime. Izdinsky factored in his team’s final goal of the first half as he found Charles Canonne with an assist for a man-up strike with eight seconds to go until the break.
The French finished of the victory by outscoring South Africa 4-0 and 3-1 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
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.
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.
