R.D.I. Polska Enjoy 2 Preview: Poleshchuk Happy To Be Back

One of four events to kick off on Tuesday on the Challenger Tour is the R.D.I. Polska Enjoy Open Challenger 3 – 2, which takes place in Bielsko-Biala in Poland.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Challenger 3 level tournament is being run with only domestic entrants, meaning only those currently living in Poland have been permitted to enter.

Filip Jarota, the Polish No.1, will be the top seed for the tournament, and the World No.284 will be aiming to secure his first win on Tour this week, especially on home soil.

Along with 14 Poles who are featuring on home soil, Ireland’s Eddie Mcfarlane and Israeli Daniel Poleshchuk will also be in action, and we spoke to the latter ahead of the tournament.

After two years away from the sport, Poleshchuk is delighted to be back,

“After having a broken ligament in my ankle which forced me to be out of the tour for two years, I’m happy that I can be back to playing on tour and enjoying every moment of that,” he explained.

“Currently, I would say that my squash is going in the right direction, I’m hungry to win matches and titles and climb up the World Rankings.”

Poleshchuk was as high as World No.109 earlier in his career, but following the injury, which saw him go through 2019 and 2020 without playing an event, he is now back to somewhere near his best.

The Israeli has found the last year harder due to the ongoing pandemic, and despite being the No.2 seed for this week’s event, he is coming in with no pressure.

“I was playing my best squash at the time and then I got injured very badly, it was a long process of rehabilitation which turned out to be successful in the end,” the 25-year-old explained.

“Due to the COVID-19 situation, it was very hard to play tournaments and leagues, so the practice matches is something that I missed the most. I’m training everyday on all different aspects of my game and trying to improve by 1{d0587469e8933ea5fce14b556fa40d44c2813bf7740605b59885b5a8c24d5885} each day, and also taking care of my body much more than before.

“I’m just coming to the event with no pressure, I’m playing good squash at the moment and feeling fit so I’m looking forward to playing my best squash at this week’s event and hopefully win another title.”

The event takes place from Tuesday 15 to Wednesday 16 June at Enjoy Squash in Bielsko-Biala, and you can follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: R.D.I. Polska Enjoy Open Challenger 3 – 2
[1] Filip Jarota (POL) v Mateusz Godzic (POL)
Dominic Calupnik (POL) v [7] Nataniel Hernas (POL)
[5] Wojciech Gorcczycki (POL) v Eddie Mcfarlane (IRL)
Szymon Papierkowski (POL) v [4] Jakub Gogol (POL)
[3] Jakub Pytlowany (POL) v Wacek Staskiewicz (POL)
Tomek Czana (POL) v [6] Kajetan Lipski (POL)
[8] Przemyslaw Atras (POL) v Piotr Szostek (POL)
Wiktor Korczyk (POL) v [2] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR)