Romania’s polo team books Paris Olympics tickets

Romania's national polo team has qualified to the Olympic Games after a 12-year break.

Bogdan Matei and Vlad Palcu, 19.02.2024, 10:37

The Romanian men’s polo team has qualified to the Paris Olympics, World Aquatics announced on Saturday. Romania was drawn in Group A alongside Croatia, Italy, Greece, the United States and Montenegro. According to Bucharest media, the qualification was unexpected. Romania ended the polo event at the World Aquatics Championships held this year in Qatar in 10th place, while only the top 8th ranked teams would have normally qualified to the Olympic Games.

South Africa, however, had to withdraw from the competition, which meant Romania took its place, as the best-ranking of all the teams that had not obtained qualification. Polo is the only Olympic event where Romania has not been represented in the last 12 years, the last participation dating back to the 2012 London Olympics. At the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Romania lost to Hungary 15-8 and to Italy 16-10, but won against Kazakhstan 25-3 in the group phase. Our team then lost the quarterfinals playoff match to Montenegro, 9-12, and in the ranking matches Romania defeated China 9-7 and lost to the United States, 13-9.

Headcoach Bogdan Rath said qualifying to the Olympics was not entirely owed to luck. “It’s a big qualification for Romanian sports overall. As I’ve said before the championship, Romania had a chance and we’ve taken advantage of it”. Romania has been drawn in a very difficult group, Bogdan Rath also argues, adding that it’s impossible to avoid tough adversaries in high-profile events. National team captain Marius Țic in turn says “the Olympic group is indeed very tough, but we need to enjoy being there, regardless of results”. The polo team’s qualification is the best moment in the career of many team players, who actually shed tears of joy at the news, locker room sources say.

Last month Romania ranked 8th at the European Polo Championships in Croatia after losing the final ranking match to Serbia, 18-7. Romania had won Group D with straight wins, 12-8 against the Netherlands, 13-5 against Slovenia and 8-6 against Slovakia. In the playoff match Romania defeated Georgia 18-11. In the round of 16, Romania lost 7-24 to Spain, and in the first ranking match it lost to Montenegro, 11-18. “Romania can definitely beat Montenegro, although we are the underdog. I believe we can produce a nice surprise”, player Tudor Fulea believes.