He defended his girlfriend, lost his leg, now he helped the Czech Republic to a historic bronze medal at the World Cup

He had been playing sports since he was young, but it didn’t look like a breakthrough career. At sixteen, he finished playing hockey in Klášterec nad Ohří, later playing in the regional floorball competition for Kadaň. And yet, on Tuesday morning, Radek Zelinka stood at the airport in Ruzyna as one of the heroes who was applauded by dozens of supporters, and he (not only for his) sporting performance received a sponsor’s check for 100 thousand crowns. Zelinka is the captain of the para-hockey team, which won a historic bronze medal in Canada at the weekend. And he scored the decisive goal in the duel for third place.