Group leaders Hungary, Serbia and Croatia extended their unbeaten streak after round 7 of the European tournament of the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League 2015, held on Tuesday March 17 in various cities.
In Group A, reigning World champions Hungary registered a clear win in Bucharest against host Romania, scoring 5-14 (2-2, 1-5, 1-3, 1-4) while visiting Slovakia lost to Greece 11-6 (2-2, 4-1, 3-1, 2-2) in Athens.
Defending World League champions Serbia strengthened their lead of Group B, defeating Germany 14-8 (3-3, 4-2, 3-1, 4-2) in Kragujevac. The closest match-up of this round featured Russia edging Spain by just one goal 9-8 (3-3, 4-3, 1-1, 1-1) in Volgograd.
In Group C, 2012 Olympic silver medallists Italy crushed Montenegro, third in the World League last year, in a comfortable score of 16-8 (3-2, 5-1, 5-2, 3-3) in Genoa. Meanwhile in Varazdin, reigning Olympic champions Croatia eclipsed France 15-9 (4-1, 3-3, 2-3, 6-2).
The ten-round European tournament will continue running through April 2015. The men’s Intercontinental Tournament kicks off March 30th in Corona del Mar (USA) with the participation of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Kazakhstan and USA. The men’s Super Final will take place in Bergamo (ITA) from June 23-28, 2015 with eight teams qualified from the preliminaries.
Provisional rankings:
GROUP A: 1. HUN, 15 pts (5 wins); 2. GRE, 12 (4W, 1 loss); 3. ROU, 2 (1W, 4L); 4. SVK, 1 (5L)
GROUP B: 1. SRB, 15 pts (5W); 2. RUS, 12 (4W, 1L); 3. ESP, 3 (1W, 4L); 4. GER, 0 (5L)
GROUP C: 1. CRO, 18 pts (6W); 2. ITA, 14 (5W, 1L); 3. MNE, 7 (2W, 3L); 4. TUR, 0 (1W, 4L); 5. FRA, 0 (6L)
Round 8 will feature the following match-ups:
March 20, 2015: FRA vs TUR in Paris (FRA)
March 20, 2015: MNE vs CRO in Budva (MNE)
Water Polo News is courtesy of FINA.
Luka je kralj.