Group leaders Hungary, Serbia and Croatia (did not play in this round) remain unchallenged with four consecutive wins after round 5 of the European tournament of the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League 2015, held on Tuesday February 17 in various cities.
In Group A, reigning World champions Hungary faced pressure from Slovakia, whose squad lost at home by just one goal 12-13 (2-1, 2-3, 3-5, 5-4) in Kosice. Visiting Greece, sixth at the last World Championships, eclipsed Romania 12-18 (2-3, 3-4, 4-7, 3-4) in Bucharest.
Defending World League champions Serbia reinforced their lead of Group B, beating Spain 9-15 (3-2, 2-2, 2-5, 2-6) in Madrid. Visiting Russia edged Germany 7-11 (1-2, 3-2, 1-3, 2-4) in Stuttgart.
In Group C, the Montenegrins, third in the World League last year, defeated France 13-7 (1-2, 5-2, 3-2, 4-1) in front of the home crowd in Budva. 2012 Olympic silver medallists Italy crushed Turkey 3-16 (1-3, 0-4, 1-5, 1-4) in Istanbul.
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, 12 pts (4 wins); 2. GRE, 9 (3W, 1 loss); 3. ROU, 2 (1W, 3L); 4. SVK, 1 (4L)
GROUP B: 1. SRB, 12 pts (4W); 2. RUS, 9 (3W, 1L); 3. ESP, 3 (1W, 3L); 4. GER, 0 (4L)
GROUP C: 1. CRO, 12 pts (4W); 2. ITA, 8 (3W, 1L); 3. MNE, 7 (2W, 2L); 4. TUR, 0 (3L); 5. FRA, 0 (3L)
Round 6 will feature the following match-ups:
February 19, 2015: ITA vs FRA in Lodi/MI (ITA)
February 20, 2015: TUR vs CRO in Istanbul (TUR)
Water Polo News is courtesy of FINA.