RRI Sports Club

Romanias Water Polo side qualifies for the World Championships

Florin Orban, 17.01.2024, 13:45

The European Water Polo Championship has ended with Spain winning the continental title after their 11-10 win on Tuesday, against the host country, Croatia.

In the third place playoffs, Italy secured a 13-7 win against Hungary.

Romania came in the 8th place in the aforementioned contest and thus qualified for the World Championships due in Qatar, next month.

The Romanian side started off on the right foot in the competition in Croatia and won the group D with three wins out of three games: 12-8 against the Netherlands, 13-5 against Slovenia and 8-7 in the match against Slovakia. Then they took on Georgia for a place in the quarters, a match Romania clearly won 18-11. Our athletes next played Spain for a place in the semifinals, but lost 24-7. Next they played and lost to Montenegro 11-18, then to Serbia 18-7 and eventually ended up in 8th place, a better position than their previous performance.

The eighth position has also brought our athletes tickets for the world Championships in Qatar, after an absence of 10 years. They last played in the aforementioned competition in 2013 in Barcelona, where they occupied the 13th position. In February in Qatar, the Romanian side will be part of group D together with Italy, Hungary and Kazakhstan. They will first take on Hungary in Doha on February 5th. The first side in the group will go to the quarter finals while the sides on the second and third places will go into playoffs for a place among the worlds first 8 teams.

The competition in Qatar will assure four places in the next edition of the Olympic Games. Out of the 16 participants in Doha, 8 have already been qualified for Paris and the Romanian side stands good chances to get tickets for France. Romania hasnt qualified for an Olympic water polo competition since the 2012 London Olympics.

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