No Olympic Qualification Yet, as Women’s Water Polo Team Suffers a 1-Point Defeat

Hungary’s women’s water polo team lost 12-11 to Italy in the quarter-finals of the European Championships in Eindhoven on Tuesday, and will not qualify for the continental tournament, but will continue their campaign for 5th-8th place.

The team of Attila Mihók and Sándor Cseh will have to wait until the World Championships in Doha in February to secure a place for Paris.

At the continental tournament in the Netherlands, the Hungarians will continue their fight against Great Britain on Thursday after Wednesday’s break.

For the most important match of the tournament so far, Gréta Gurisatti, who suffered an eye injury against Croatia, and Nikolett Szabó, were left out of the 15-player squad.

Hungary started the match with two missed Hungarian goals, and the Italians took the lead from the action. The final period started with missed chances on both sides, which was a blow for the Italians, who had a two-goal lead. With 33 seconds left on the clock, the last shot was Krisztina Garda’s, but she missed and Italy won 12-11.

According to Attila Mihók, the co-captain of the Hungarian women’s water polo team, it was mainly due to the weaker shooting performance that the team lost to its main rivals.

The captain stressed that although the players were disciplined in carrying out what the professional staff asked them to do, the pace did not really apply against these teams.

Garda, one of the best Hungarian players, emphasized that poor defense was the main reason for the loss: “Once again we did not work well defensively and we were very timid today. (…) Maybe in the last quarter of an hour something started to happen, but in a European Championships quarter-final against the Italians it was not enough. I am very sorry.”

Via MTI; Featured image via MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt