Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Russia registered clean wins in the second round of games of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World League 2015 Europe preliminaries taking place on Tuesday December 16, 2014.
In Group A, visiting Italy defeated 2013 World bronze medallist Hungary 9-11 (5-2, 1-3, 1-3, 2-3) in Szentes (HUN). In Montreuil (FRA), France faced pressure from visiting Russia, settling for 4-15 (1-5, 1-1, 1-4, 1-5).
In Group B, 2011 World champions Greece crushed Germany 7-20 (3-6, 3-6, 1-3, 0-5) in Krefeld (GER) while the Netherlands upset reigning World champions Spain 10-6 (2-2, 4-1, 2-2, 2-1) in Utrecht (NED).
The composition of the European Groups of the FINA Women’s World League 2015 is as follows:
GROUP A – France, Hungary, Italy, Russia
GROUP B – Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Spain
Provisional rankings:
GROUP A: ITA, 6 pts (2 wins); RUS, 5 pts (2W); HUN, 1 pt (2 losses); FRA, 0 pt (2L)
GROUP B: NED 6 pts (2W); ESP, 3 pts (1W, 1L); GRE, 3 pts (1W, 1L); GER, 0 pt (2L)
Next round (January 27, 2015):
Group A: RUS-ITA (city tbc) & HUN-FRA (Gyor, HUN)
Group B: GRE-ESP (Athens, GRE) & NED-GER (city tbc)
The remaining rounds for Europe will be held on February 24, March 24 and April 21, 2015.
The Intercontinental Tournament for Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania will be held from April 28 to May 3, 2015 in Auckland (NZL) while the Super Final of the competition, featuring the best eight teams from the preliminaries, is scheduled on June 9-14, 2015 in China (city tbc).
Water Polo News is courtesy of FINA.
