The team will have to wait until the World Championships in Doha in February to secure a place for Paris.Continue reading
The Hungarian women’s water polo team beat Great Britain 21-5 on Thursday at the European Championships in Eindhoven. This means that Hungary’s team will play for fifth place.
The team of Attila Mihók and Sándor Cseh will face Olympic hosts France in the play-off on Saturday. It was already decided earlier, with the quarter-final defeat to Italy, that the Hungarian national team would not yeet qualify for the Olympics, and that their last chance to do so will be at the World Championships in Doha in February.
Gréta Gurisatti, who suffered an eye injury against Croatia, and Krisztina Garda, one of the best players in the team, were also left out of the Hungarian squad. The Hungarians enforced the power differential in the first quarter, taking a 7-1 lead with Keszthelyi scoring four goals. The game continued in a similar pattern, with the most memorable scene of the second quarter being Neszmély’s save from a five-meter shot.
Hungarian player Vanda Vályi (R) and Victoria Hawkins (L) of the British national team. Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt
In the third quarter, the Hungarian team showed some remarkably beautiful defensive solutions, winning this quarter 4-1, just like the second quarter.
Rebecca Parkes, Hungarian (R) and Katherine Rogers, British player (L). Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt
In the final eight minutes, there were several mistakes in the action from the Hungarian team but the match still ended in a 21-5 win.
Boglárka Neszmély, goalkeeper of the Hungarian national team. Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt
“The most important thing is to find joy in water polo as a team again. A little bit at a time like this, everyone would isolate and try to sort these things out on their own, but we just do not have the opportunity to do that right now. We have to keep doing what we started, first and foremost we have to improve our defense,” Mihók recalled the feelings after the quarter-final defeat against Italy.
Regarding the clash against Great Britain, the co-captain stressed that it was a game that had to be played, but they knew that the opponents were in a completely different category:
This time we tried things that we had not done before- we try to prepare for an emergency situation and do things that are not in our repertoire.”
Speaking about Saturday’s play-off against France, he said he expects a win. “Of course, we can be sure that the French will put up a strong fight and not give us the game. The most important thing is to keep doing our job consistently and with discipline, especially defensively,” Mihók said.
Women’s European Championship (Eindhoven), for places 5-8:
Hungary vs Great Britain 21-5 (7-1, 4-1, 4-1, 6-2)
Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt