Unbeaten so far, Hungary, Serbia and Croatia maintain the lead of their respective group – A, B and C – after the fourth round of the European tournament of the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League 2015, held on Tuesday January 20 in various cities.
In group A, Greece lost to current World champions Hungary in a tight 13-15 (5-4, 3-5, 3-3, 2-3) in Athens. Meanwhile in Bucharest, Romania and visiting Slovakia drew level 9-9 (3-4, 1-3, 3-2, 2-0) with the locals winning in a final score of 14-13 after penalty shout-outs.
Defending World League champions Serbia strengthened their lead of Group B after their victory against home squad Russia 8-17 (2-4,1-4,2-5,3-4) in Astrakhan City while Spain faced pressure from Germany in Bremen, winning 11-12 (2-3,3-5,1-2,5-2).
In Group C, 2014 World League bronze medallists Montenegro crushed visiting Turkey 15-4 (4-0, 3-0, 3-1, 5-3) in Budva, claiming their first win in these preliminaries. In Torino, 2012 Olympic champions Croatia proved too strong for host Italy, edging the 2012 Olympic runner-ups by just one goal in a final score of 7-8 (2-3, 2-2, 1-2, 2-1).
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, teams to be announced soon). The men’s Super Final will take place in Bergamo (ITA) from June 23-28, 2015.
Provisional rankings:
GROUP A: 1. HUN, 9 pts (3 wins); 2. GRE, 6 (2W, 1 loss); 3. ROU, 2 (1W, 2L); 4. SVK, 1 (3L)
GROUP B: 1. SRB, 9 pts (3W); 2. RUS, 6 (2W, 1L); 3. ESP, 3 (1W, 2L); 4. GER, 0 (3L)
GROUP C: 1. CRO, 12 pts (4W); 2. ITA, 5 (2W, 1L); 3. MNE, 4 (1W, 2L); 4. TUR, 0 (2L); 5. FRA, 0 (2L, did not play in this round)
The next game of round 3 will be held on February 2, 2015 with Turkey meeting France in Istanbul.
Round 5 on February 17, 2015 includes the following match-ups:
ROU vs GRE: Bucharest (ROU)
SVK vs HUN: Kosice (SVK)
ESP vs SRB: Madrid (ESP)
GER vs RUS: city tbc
TUR vs ITA: Istanbul (TUR)
MNE vs FRA: Budva (MNE)
Swimming News / Water Polo News courtesy of FINA.