BRITAIN CLOSE THE GAP ON EUROPEAN RIVALS
A young British water polo squad working towards a goal of
competing at the London 2012 Olympics highlighted the progress
made with some impressive performances at a European tournament
in Slovenia.
Britain were in Kranj to try to qualify for this summer's
European Youth Water Polo Championships and they came very
close but ultimately the strength and experience of favourites
France and hosts Slovenia were the telling factor.
The competition, which featured 23 nations split into three
groups of six and a group of five, placed Britain with France,
Slovenia, Portugal, Belgium and Austria, with the top two
from each group qualifying for the European Championships.
Britain's first game was against eventual group winners France
and in a close encounter the French eventually came out on
top 8-6.
The squad, aged 17 and 18, faced Slovenia in the next match
and it was a contest that would go on to determine which nation
who would qualify alongside France. Britain competed strongly
but missed out with the game going to Slovenia 10-7.
In their final three games against Portugal, Belgium and
Austria, Britain found their scoring touch with three convincing
wins 25-2, 11-4 and 18-4 respectively.
National Performance Director for British Water Polo Nick
Hume was pleased with what he saw from the squad and feels
progress is being made.
"For many years the likes of France and Slovenia have
been a long way ahead of us but this group of 13 has shown
that we're closing that gap all the time," said Hume.
"In the past they've beaten us heavily but we showed
just how competitive we've become as a result of the hard
work we've put into developing water polo in Britain.
"We're closing the gap all the time and this tournament
clearly shows that. We pushed France all of the way and against
Slovenia if we'd had a little more luck we could have got
that result.
"It was a strong group that we faced but we came away
with some very good results. It's disappointing not to qualify
but the guys have done a sterling job and we're excited about
the future of this group."
* International water polo will be showcased in Manchester
this summer when some of the sport's strongest nations compete
for The LEN European Nations Trophy.
Twelve teams, Great Britain, France, Poland, Ukraine, Israel,
Ireland, Belarus, Turkey, Malta, Belgium, Montenegro, Macedonia,
will battle it out at Manchester Aquatics Centre from 8th
to 15th July.
The event is jointly funded by British Swimming, UK Sport
and Manchester City Council. For more information log onto
www.manchester2007.com
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