Men's Water Polo - Tokyo bound for Montenegro, Greece and Croatia

 

MEN'S WATER POLO OLYMPIC GAMES QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT

Montenegro, Greece and Croatia secured this weekend in Rotterdam (NED) the last three Olympic berths up for grab at the FINA Men's Water Polo Olympic Games Qualification Tournamen (February 14-21, 2021).

With no clear favourite for the victory, Montenegro ended up defeating the Hellenic squad 10-9 in the the gold match (2-3, 3-3, 1-2, 4-1). Despite the latter leading the first half of the game, it was the last quarter that made the difference for the Balkan team and turned the match in their favour.

In a dramatic match for the bronze medal and ultimate Olympic spot, Croatia stuned Russia 25-24 (4-3, 2-4, 3-1, 2-3) as the battle finished with penalties (14-13), a really tough end for the Russian players who narrolwy miss their Olympic ambition.

A total of 12 men teams will be competing in Tokyo as the above three squads join the already qualified nine teams, namely: Serbia (FINA Water Polo World League 2019 winner), Italy and Spain (18th FINA World Championships winner and runner-up), USA (Pan American Games 2019), Australia (Oceania), Hungary (European Championships 2020), South Africa (Africa), Kazakhstan (Asia), Japan (host).

The final ranking in Rotterdam was:

1. Montenegro, 2. Greece, 3. Croatia, 4. Russia, 5. Netherlands, 6. France, 7. Georgia, 8. Canada

Soon after the Olympic Qualification Tournament concluded in Rotterdam, the draws for the men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments were held and the groups were composed as follows:

 

Women’s tournament

Group A: Australia, South Africa, Netherlands, Spain, Canada

Group B: Russia, China, Hungary, United States, Japan

 

Men’s tournament

Group A: South Africa, United States, Hungary, Greece, Japan, Italy

Group B: Australia, Croatia, Serbia, Spain, Kazakhstan, Montenegro

 

All matches from Rotterdam are available on replay on FINAtv, while day-by-day news reports can be read on FINA website and photos / videos can be found on FINA social media channels. Results available here http://results.microplustiming.com/rotterdam2020/index_web.php

 

Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA)

The Fédération Internationale de Natation, founded in 1908, is the governing body for aquatics worldwide. FINA's five discipline Swimming, Open Water Swimming, Diving, Water Polo and Artistic Swimming - are all included in the Olympic programme. High Diving made its first appearance in FINA events at the 2013 FINA World Championships. FINA counts 209 affiliated National Federations on the five continents and has its headquarters in Lausanne (SUI).