Hungary, Greece, Serbia, Russia, Croatia and Italy remained unbeaten after round 2 of the European preliminaries of the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League 2015, held on December 9-10, 2014.
In Group A, visiting Greece beat Slovakia 10-16 (4-4, 0-4, 3-5, 3-3) in Novaky while the prowess of reigning World champions Hungary was on display at home in Miskolc, crushing Romania 20-10 (5-3, 5-3, 5-0, 5-4).
In Group B, 2014 FINA World Cup and World League winners Serbia left little room for manoeuvre to host Germany in Hamburg, winning 10-19 (4-3, 2-5, 3-6, 1-5). In Terrassa (ESP), 2012 World League runner-up Spain lost to Russia 11-14 (4-2, 4-3, 1-3, 2-6).
In Group C, 2012 Olympic silver medallists Italy stunned Montenegro and the home crowd in Budva, winning in a tight score of 13-15 (3-1, 3-4, 1-4, 4-2, 2:4) after penalties. In Montpellier, visiting Croatia, reigning Olympic champions, registered a clear win over France, scoring 7-14 (2-5, 0-4, 4-3, 1-2).
The composition of the European Groups of the 2015 Men’s World League is as follows:
GROUP A – Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia
GROUP B – Germany, Russia, Serbia, Spain
GROUP C – Croatia, France, Italy, Montenegro, Turkey
Provisional rankings:
GROUP A: HUN, 6 pts (2 wina); GRE, 6 (2W); ROU, 0 (2 losses); SVK, 0 (2L)
GROUP B: SRB, 6 pts (2W); RUS, 6 (2W); ESP, 0 (2L); GER, 0 (2L)
GROUP C: CRO, 6 pts (2W); ITA, 5 (2W); MNE, 1 (1L); FRA, 0 (2L); TUR, 0 (1L)
Round 3 includes two match-ups from Group C:
CRO-MNE (Rijeka) on December 29, 2014
TUR-FRA (Istanbul) on February 2, 2015
Water Polo News is courtesy of FINA.
