Written by:World Aquatics Water Polo
Correspondent Russell McKinnon
The stage is set for eight women’s
nations to have a crack at gaining the final two berths for the World Aquatics
Women’s Water Polo World Cup finals to be staged in Long Beach, United States
of America in June. All teams will play four matches at the Schwimm &
Sprunghalle im Europasportpark with a gruelling two-match programme on the
first day.
This week marks the first time that a
Division II grouping will contest a World Aquatics World Cup women’s water polo
event under the new format started this year. The Division I group contested
their tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Athens, Greece in the past
fortnight, producing six qualifiers in Netherlands, USA, Hungary, Italy, Spain
and Greece.
The top two in Berlin will gain
access to the top echelon and the cut-throat nature of the event means you have
to finish one-two in your group to have any chance on the third day.
Normally the final day would see the
top two teams go head to head, but the new system gives one extra chance to the
second-placed teams in the groups to play the top teams on the other side of
the draw for a chance to progress.
Who are the contenders?
Group A contains South Africa,
Israel, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Group B has New Zealand, Great
Britain, Kazakhstan and Germany.
A dip into history
The World Cup was the elite
competition for women before World Championships and Olympics Games came along.
These were contested by the world’s leading nations and long before many
nations were competing in women’s competitions.
Nations such as USA, Australia,
Canada, Netherlands and New Zealand were the mainstays of the early years from
1979 to 1984. Then came the likes of Hungary, Puerto Rico, the Federal Republic
of Germany, France and Italy.
In the 1990s, Brazil, Japan,
Kazakhstan, Russia and Greece appeared. Since then, China, Singapore, South
Africa and Spain have become involved.
As a quadrennial event (every four
years) since 2002, the last event was staged in Surgut, Russia in 2018.
Initially it was played annually and became biennial (every two years).
Since its inception in 1979 in
Merced, USA, the event has been staged 17 times with Netherlands the powerhouse
in the 1980s and 1990s with eight crowns. USA has won four, Australia three and
Canada and Hungary once apiece. Netherlands has 12 medals, Australia 11, USA
10, Canada, Russia and Italy three each and China and Spain a bronze apiece.
This week's contenders
South Africa, New Zealand and
Kazakhstan have been constantly at international competitions and the Kiwi team
from Down Under has appeared seven times in the World Cup and hosted it once in
1988. New Zealand finished the best of the trio at the last year’s FINA World
Championships in Budapest in 10th place with Kazakhstan 11th and South Africa
13th. Of the others, only Germany, Uzbekistan and Great Britain have contested
the World Championships — Germany six times from 1986 until 2009; Uzbekistan four
times between 2005 and 2013 and Great Britain once in 2003.
All eyes will be on Israel and
Ukraine to see how they compete in the international arena as more women’s
nations emerge.
The men’s competition will be
followed the following three days.
Match schedule
May 2
08:30, Group A, South Africa v Israel
10:00, Group A, Uzbekistan v Ukraine
11:30, Group B, New Zealand v Great
Britain
13:30, Group B, Kazakhstan v Germany
16:00, Group A, South Africa v
Ukraine
17:30, Group A, Uzbekistan v Israel
19:00, Group B, Kazakhstan v Great
Britain
20:30, Group B, New Zealand v Germany
May 3
14:00, Group A, Uzbekistan v South
Africa
15:45, Group A, Ukraine v Israel
17:30, Group B, Kazakhstan v New
Zealand
19:15 Group B, Germany v Great
Britain
May 4
14:00, 4B v 4A
15:45, 3B v 3A
17:30, 1A v 2B
19:15, 1B v 2ª
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