Galyna Volodymyrivna "Galia" Dvorak Khasanova ( uk, Галина Володимирівна Дворжака Хасанова; born 1 April 1988) is a Spanish table tennis player. She was born in Kyiv, but her family moved to Spain when she was two. Both of her parents (Vladimir Dvorak and Flora Khasanova) were also international table tennis players. She won a bronze medal in the women's team event at the

2009 Mediterranean Games The 2009 Mediterranean Games, officially the XVI Mediterranean Games ( it, XVI Giochi del Mediterraneo) and commonly known as Pescara 2009, was a multi-sport event held in Pescara, Italy, from 26 June to 5 July 2009. It was governed by the Inte ...

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. As of May 2019, Dvorak is ranked no. 94 in the world by the

International Table Tennis Federation The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the p ...

(ITTF). Dvorak is a member of the table tennis team for

CN Mataró Centre Natació Mataró is a Catalan sports club from Mataró, Barcelona created in 1932. It is active in swimming, water polo, table tennis and triathlon. The men's and women's water polo teams play in the División de Honor Masculina and the D ...

, and is coached and trained by Peter Engel, Linus Mernsten, and her mother Flora Khasanova. She is also right-handed, and uses the classic grip. Dvorak made her official debut, as a 20-year-old, at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, where she competed only in the inaugural women's team event. Playing with Chinese emigrants

Shen Yanfei Shen Yanfei (; born December 24, 1979, in Hebei, China) is a female Chinese-born table tennis player who now represents Spain and resides in Cartagena, Murcia. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the third round of the single ...

and

Zhu Fang Zhu Fang (born 2 October 1976) is a female Chinese-born table tennis player who now represents Spain. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the second round of the singles competition. She also competed in the team competitio ...

, Dvorak placed third in the preliminary pool round, with a total of four points, two defeats from Japan and South Korea, and a single victory over the Australian trio

Miao Miao Miao Miao () (born 14 January 1981, Tianjin, China) is an Australian table tennis player who represented Australia at the Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London Olympic Games. Her best Olympic result was the quarter finals of the doubles tournamen ...

Jian Fang Lay Jian Fang Lay-Hong (; born 6 March 1973), is a right-handed Chinese-born Australian ladies table tennis player. She plays penhold, with a long pimple rubber at one side for use of attacking, blocking as well as chopping. She is currently number ...

, and Stephanie Sang Xu. Four years after competing in her first Olympics, Dvorak qualified for her second Spanish team, as a 24-year-old, at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, by receiving an allocation spot from the Final World Qualifying Tournament in

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

. With a maximum of two quotas per nation in the singles tournament, Dvorak accepted the third spot, and thereby competed only in the women's team event, along with her fellow players

Sara Ramírez Sara Elena Ramírez (; born August 31, 1975) is a Mexican-American actor and singer. Born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Ramírez moved to the United States at eight years old, eventually graduating with a fine arts degree from the Juilliard School. ...

and

. Dvorak and her team lost the first round match to the formidable Chinese trio

Li Xiaoxia Li Xiaoxia (; born 16 January 1988) is a Chinese table tennis Grand Slam champion. Career She trained in the Jiangsu Wuxi Shanhe Club in Wuxi, China. Her trainer is Li Sun, who is also the mentor of Olympic gold medal winner Zhang Yining. As o ...

, Guo Yue, and

Ding Ning Ding Ning (; born 20 June 1990) is a former Chinese table tennis player. She was the winner of women's singles in the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships. At the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, Ding won her second world title in ...

, with a unanimous set score of 0–3 (4–11, 7–11, 12–14). At the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, she competed in the women's singles only. She was a replacement for the injured French player Carole Grundisch. She lost to home player Lin Gui in her first match.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dvorak, Galia 1988 births Living people Spanish female table tennis players Olympic table tennis players for Spain Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics European Games competitors for Spain Table tennis players at the 2015 European Games Table tennis players at the 2019 European Games Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games medalists in table tennis Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Sportspeople from Kyiv Spanish people of Ukrainian descent 20th-century Spanish women 21st-century Spanish women