Water Polo in Khanty-Mansiysk

     The matches of the forth day of the Junior Women’s Water Polo World Championship -2009 have finished. Tomorrow there will be quarterfinals.

     In the first meeting of 1/8 final stage the national Greek team managed to lose almost won match with the team of Spain, during which it was leading with the score 13:10 a minute and 40 seconds before the end of main time. However the Spanish water polo player Roser Tarrago played excellently in the end, her efforts helped the team to have overtime. In extra time a throw of Spaniard Anna Espar two and a half minutes to a final siren determined everything.

     The Italian national got a place in the quarterfinal already by the middle of the second period, having thrown in gate of the German team eight balls. Further sportswomen from the Apennines only increased the advantage; it seems they were thinking not about the game but about the tomorrow's quarterfinal match against the Russian national team.

     Holland – New Zealand. The remake of the same stage match, recently played at the adult World championship in Rome, came to an end with the same outcome – victory of water polo players of the Netherlands. But the Dutch girls got it much easier, than their senior compatriots in Rome. Perhaps, the chance «to return to the game» after the failed beginning of the second quarter (a game segment – 0:4) was missed by the national team of New Zealand, when its player Alexandra Boyd did not carry out a penalty kick at the score - 4:7.

     In the final quarterfinal the national team of RSA managed to score their first goal in the game with the USA only at the score 0:8 in the third period. By this moment the chance to get to the quarterfinal was practically predetermined.

     In the tournament for 13-15 places until the middle of the second period Uzbekistan national team was fighting with the Brazilian nearly equal. However, four goals in a row conceded by the Uzbek team after the score 2:4, decided the outcome of the meeting. Talita Lavatori, a player of the Brazilian team was good in the match, scoring four balls.

     Claudio CAMARENA, head coach of Spain: - In spite of the fact that the game was practically lost, the fact that we were tired, we managed to summon our strength and to get what we wanted. Today we admitted many mistakes both in attack, and in defence. But the last minutes and overtime were the key moments when we appeared to be stronger.

     Konstantinos PETRAKIS, the head coach of the national Greek team: - The match turned out to be very interesting. Unfortunately, our goalkeeper made some mistakes. It was hard for the team to play, when the leader Christina Tsoukala was sent off till the end of the game.

     Jens REINHARDT, the head coach of Germany: - I am happy with today's game, but not with its result. Girls coped with main tasks – had right attacks, good defence. Perhaps, the result is not what we wanted, but that was a good match for us.

     Fabio CONTI, head coach of the Italian team: - This match was different from the one that was yesterday – against Spain. Now we can look at prospects of the tomorrow’s match with Russia. Certainly, this meeting will be specific because Russia plays at home. But, I think, we will like to play with the hostess-team.

     Ilse SINDORF, head coach of the Nertherlands: - We did what we had to do in this game - had right attacks, good defence, made not a lot of mistakes. As for the tomorrow's quarterfinal our forces are approximately equal with the Notational team of Canada. Therefore the match should be interesting.

     Frazer BICKLEY, head coach of New Zealand: - Certainly, we wanted to have revenge for defeat of the female national team in Rome, but didn’t manage. We had some chances in this meeting as the competitors made some mistakes as well, but, unfortunately, we could not make them true.

     Kyle UTSUMI, head coach of the USA: - We played with South Africa for the first time, and it was an interesting experiment for us. Tomorrow we have the match with Australia – the country where water polo is highly developed. We wait this match to be interesting.

     Ryan WEIDERMAN, head coach of South Africa: - Today we played better, than the day before. Yesterday, in the match against New Zealand, we had some successful attacks in the beginning of the game. Today we had good attacks even in the end of the match. I hope that today we managed to make the USA team thrilled.

     Frank DIAZ, head coach of Brazil: - I am very pleased with our first victory in the tournament, though I’m not going to hide: it was the expected result, because the Uzbek team is weaker. After the yesterday’s match with the Russian national team, our girls were tired. That explains the fact that our final advantage is not too convincing.

     Anastasia SKOVPINA, head coach of Uzbekistan: - Brazil was an equal rival to us in strength. We lost not because of any lack of skill, but because of the mistakes. The Championship takes place at a good level - all girls are playing like adults. Despite the fact that the tournament is over for us, we will continue training and possibly we’ll play another friendly match, if one of the teams agrees.