Three professors from the University of Debrecen have managed to attain the time standards required for qualification to enter the 17th FINA World Masters Championships. They are now registered to compete in several events between August 15th and 20th.
The three professors from the University of Debrecen (István Bitskey, Gyula Batta and Zoltán Erdélyi) are all members of Debreceni Szenior Úszóklub [Debrecen Senior Swimming Club].
Academician István Bitskey, a Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Humanities, comes from a veritable swimming dynasty: Bitskey Aladár Uszoda [Aladár Bitskey Swimming Pool] in the city of Eger was named after his father. After winning 35 national championships, he was granted the title szenior úszás örökös bajnoka [permanent champion of senior swimming] in 2013. In 2007, he was ranked 7th at the European Championships. At the 17th FINA World Masters Championships in Budapest, he will be competing in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly events, while he is also in the Debrecen male medley relay team of the highest age group.
Physicist Gyula Batta is the Head of Szerkezeti Biológiai Kutatócsoport [Structural Biology Research Group] at Kémiai Intézet Szerves Kémiai Tanszék [Department of Organic Chemistry of the Institute of Chemistry]. He has been a senior swimmer since 2005. In 2006, he swam more than 1000 kilometers. He is a fourteen-time national champion in various events of senior swimming. In 2015, he was ranked 10th in Europe in the event of 200 m butterfly. He qualified for the World Championships in 100 m and 200 m butterfly.
Physicist Zoltán Erdélyi is Head of Szilárdtest Fizikai Tanszék [Department of Solid State Physics] at UD. He has been a senior swimmer since 2016, with several national championship gold and other medals won. He has qualified to enter the World Championships events of 50 m and 100 m freestyle as well as 50 m breaststroke.
Senior swimmers will be competing in several age groups at the world championships held between August 7 and 20, which means the baffling number of 15 thousand participants. There are also going to be former world-class athletes among the entrants, making the competition a lot harder. The members of the UD team have set the following objectives for themselves at this contest: performing better than their average times and achieving decent enough results.
Find further information on the events of the 17th FINA World Masters Championships at the following link:
http://www.fina.org/event/17th-fina-world-masters-championships
Press Office, unideb.hu
