ILSE SINDORF: «VICTORY ON THE OLYMPICS MOTIVATES THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER POLO IN HOLLAND»

     The head coach of the Dutch team Ilse Sindorf appraised her trainees:

     – all water polo players of the Netherlands team are equal in strength. There are 13 sportswomen – rather strong team, and every water polo player will have a lot of opportunities to show off in the matches. It’s difficult to name the leaders of the team, all of them are good and have many effective attacks.

     What do you think about the teams in group «D», which are all strong enough – Holland, Russia and the USA?

     – We are really in a strong group. But it’s not a secret that only players with leaders you can have a chance to get higher result. Among 15 teams-participants six-eight pretend to have gold medals – they are Australia, Hungary, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, the USA. I am sure, water polo games in this World Championship will be interesting and exciting.

     What can you say about the championship organization and about Khanty-Mansiysk? Do you feel yourself comfortable here?

     – The Championship was organized well. I think if the Russians take something up, then they do it excellently. Look around – you can see the magnificence and the natural beauty of this city.

     How was water polo development in this country affected by the victory of water polo women’s Dutch team on the Olympics-2008 in Beijing?

     – This Victory, of course, changed the life of the country, which believed in its athletes’ strength. The sportsmen’s life, which earlier had been nothing more than professional clubs, became interesting to sponsors and media. The number of broadcastings was considerably increased. In a word, that gave a stimulus to develop water polo in Holland.