Greece, Serbia and Italy – the dominant forces of the European preliminaries of the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League 2016 – secured a berth for the Super Final following the sixth and final round of the tournament which started in October 2015.
Despite being beaten by Hungary 13-10 (2-4,5-2,2-2,4-2), Greece managed to take Group A’s available spot to the Super Final. Romania proved too strong for Georgia in Bucharest , winning 17-8 (5-1, 4-1, 5-2, 3-1).
Group B’s games were very tight last night as Spain defeated France 8-7 (4-1, 1-1, 2-2, 1-1) in Limoges (FRA), while the Serbia-Montenegro match was a tie (10-10). Montenegro ended up winning 15-13 after the penalty shoot-out.
Group C’s Russia and Turkey have played their sixth round game on May 3 (13-5), while Italy-Croatia saw a tie 9-9 in Siracusa (ITA). Italy eventually claimed victory (14-12) after the penalty shoot-out.
Final rankings after round 6 (completed):
GROUP A: GRE 15pts (5W, 1L); HUN 15pts (5W, 1L); ROU 6pts (2W, 4L); GEO 0pt (6L)
GROUP B: SRB 16pts (5W, 1Lp); MNE 11pts (3W, 1Wp, 2L); ESP 9pts (3W, 3L); FRA 0pt (6L)
GROUP C: ITA 17pts (5W, 1Wp); CRO 13pts (4w, 1Lp, 1L); RUS 6pts (2W, 4L); TUR 0pt (6L)
W – Win (3 points); Wp – Win by penalties (2 points); Lp – Loss by penalties (1 point); L – Loss (0 points)
* Goal difference: only goals scored in regular time are counted
The three teams will join the four non-european teams* + Super Final host China for the World League Title at the Super Final from June 21-26 in Huizhou, China,
Swimming news courtesy of FINA.