Tamas Kasas became immortal

Three-time Olympic champion water polo player Tamas Kasas became the new member of the Association of Immortal Hungarian Athletes. The inauguration was held with a banquet on Wednesday evening, origo.hu said.

Gyorgy Karpati, President of the association specially greeted five-time Olympic champion gymnast Agnes Keleti among the members, who traveled back from abroad. After that, he reported about General Assembly, where 13 of the 19 voted. Tamas Kasas won the elections by absolute majority, who was the only candidate of the Presidency.

Two-time Olympic champion water polo player Barnabas Steinmetz highlighted he has knew Kasas for three decades since he was a child, because both their fathers were water polo players and their lived their days by the pool.

“We were teammates in the national team and Tamas stood out not only with his game knowledge, but you could always count on him. He was a key figure of one of the brightest era of the Hungarian water polo. Several children took up sport because of him, he is a true role model” – Steinmetz said, and then he brushed up old stories from their common past.

“I’m terribly embarrassed” – Kasas, the two-time Europe Champion and World Champion began his speech of thanks. “On the one hand, because Barna said very nice things about me, on the other hand, because I got into a very illustrious company. Here I’m standing alone, although I’ve always been surrounded with great players and coaches.

The immortals:
Tamas Darnyi, Krisztina Egerszegi, Tamas Farago, Csaba Fenyvesi, Imre Foldi, Zsolt Gyulay, Csaba Hegedus, Jeno Kamuti, Gyorgy Karpati, Agnes Keleti, Gyozo Kulcsar, Zoltan Magyar, Timea Nagy, Judit Polgar, Ildiko Rejto, Eva Szekely, Ferenc Torok, Istvan Vaskuti, Tamas Wichmann, Tamas Kasas.

On behalf of the Hungarian Water Polo Association (MVLSZ) Secretary General Balazs Nemcsik praised the career of the celebrated and joked that Kasas wasn’t a national champion, so it seems it is more difficult to achieve than to win he Olympics, World Cup or European Championship. The association – which is known as the Immortals ‘Club – was called for life by Hungarian Sports Journalists’ Association in 1991 – has 20 members.

based on the article of origo.hu
translated by BA

Photo: MTI

Source: http://www.origo.hu