Day 7, World Women's Junior Water Polo Championship: Russia takes back-to-back gold
Russia won Netherlands 11-5 for its second straight FINA World Women's Junior Water Polo Championship crown at the Olympic Swimming Complex in Funchal (POR).
Six victories out of six matches, from group stage to the final, gave gold to Russian junior team, which is now a triple champion, having won in 2009, 2017 and 2019.
In this edition, Russian players where the strongest and took back-to-back gold. Russia had won the previous edition of the tournament, held in Volos (GRE) in 2017.
Evgeniia Golovina (RUS) was named the championships' best goalkeeper and Netherland's Simone van de Kraats the Most Valuable Player. Margarita Pystina (RUS) was the top scorer.
Italy clinched the bronze medal by winning Greece 9-8. Italian players did a great job to stand on the podium next to Russia and Netherlands.
An extra effort allowed Spain surpass United States 9-10 for 5th place. Hungary beat China 12-7 for seventh place, with Kamilla Farago netting four goals.
Individual awards
Best player: Simone van de Kraats (NED)
Top scorer: Margarita Pystina (RUS)
Best goalkeeper: Evgeniia Golovina (RUS)
Final rankings
1. Rusia
2. Netherlands
3. Italy
4. Greece
5. Spain
6. United States
7. Hungary
8. China
9. Australia
10. Canada
11. Brazil
12. South Africa
13. Japan
14. New Zealand
15. Kazakhstan
16. Portugal
Sunday schedule
Classification 7-8
Match 45, 16:00, CHINA 7 HUNGARY 12
Classification 5-6
Match 46, 17:20, UNITED STATES 9 SPAIN 10
Classification 3-4
Match 47, 18:40, ITALY 9 GREECE 8
Classification 1-2
Match 48, 20:00, NETHERLANDS 5 RUSSIA 11
Photo credit: Duarte Paulini
Match reports
Quarters: 0-4, 2-3, 2-1, 3-4
Referees: Sergey Krizhanovskiy (RUS) and Eurico Moreira da Silva (POR)
Teams
CHINA: Wenxin Dong, Shiyun Wang (2), Yizhen Zhu (1), Xiao Chen (1), Bozhou Lu (2), Qingwei Wang, Wen Su, Rui Xu, Xinyan Meng (1), Yujia Bai, Ziyan Xiao, Siya Yan, Yuting Xie. Head Coach: Jun Lin.
HUNGARY: Alda Magnon Magyari, Zita Armai (2), Vanda Valyi (2), Luca Petovari, Natasa Rybanska (3), Janka Utassy, Fanni Muzsnay, Kamilla Farago (4), Eszter Lara Kiss, Berta Farago (1), Panna Kudella, Panna Petik, Lila Maczko. Head Coach: Tamas Farago.
Hungarian players smiled at the final day of competition in Funchal after beating China 12-7 for seventh place. Hungary's dominance was clear, with a five-goal margin at half time. That was the difference between the two teams at the end of the game.
Quarters: 0-0, 4-3, 2-3, 3-4
Referees: Liang Zhang (CHN) and Alessia Ferrari (ITA)
Teams
UNITED STATES: Georgia Phillips, Noelle Wijnbelt (1), Sarah Klass (1), Abrielle Hill, Honnie Vandeweghe, Bayley Weber (1), Jewel Roemer (3), Roxanne Wheaton, Jenna Flynn (1), Ryann Neushul (2), Valeria Ayala, Ava Johnson, Isabel Williams. Head Coach: Natalie Benson.
SPAIN: Sandra Domene, Paula Camus (1), Paula Leiton (1), Ruth Ariño (1), Silvia Morell (1), Alba Bonamusa, Berta Seto, Elia Montoya (3), Lucia Gomez de la Puente, Helena Dalmases (1), Sofia Diaz, Alejandra Aznar (2), Paula Nieto. Head Coach: Javier Aznar
A really competitive game between United States and Spain decided the fifth place in the FINA World Women's Junior Water Polo Championship. It was a battle and Spain was the winner (9-10). Elia Montoya led the charge on the offense scoring three goals that approached the Spanish team to the objective it had after its defeat at the quarterfinals. Spain earned two final wins to get the fifth position.
Quarters: 4-1, 2-2, 2-3, 1-2
Referees: Sander Paul Gransjean (NED) and Anna Goncharenko (UKR)
Teams
ITALY: Caterina Banchelli, Nicole Zanetta (2), Anna Repetto (2), Giorgia Amedeo (1), Elena Borg, Lucrezia Cergol, Sofia Giustini, Isabella Riccioli, Francesca Colletta (1), Carlotta Meggiato, Agnese Cocchiere (3), Dafne Bettini, Marzia Imperatrice. Head Coach: Paolo Zizza
GREECE: Marina Kotsioni, Effrosyni Katsimpri, Anastasia Loudi, Eleni Elliniadi (2), Elisavet Protopapas (1), Maria Anna Mastrokalou, Eirini Ninou (1), Maria Myriokefalitaki (1), Iliana Kokkinaki, Vasiliki Douli, Ioulia Anna Kontoni (1), Eleni Kanetidou (2), Emmanouela Archontaki. Head Coach: Stefanos Leandros.
Francesca Colletta scored the first goal of the game with 3:57 to play in the first quarter. It gave an idea on how balanced the match was at the beginning, although Italy found the way to build a good advantage with an efective offense and a solid defense. Wearing white caps, the Italian players were leading 4-1 by the end of the first quarter.
Anna Repetto with shots from long distance and Caterina Banchelli with big saves extended Italy's dominance to the second period. Their team had a three-goal margin at half time.
However, Maria Myriokefalitaki and Eleni Elliniadi scored for Greece early in the third quarter and the game changed a bit. Italian players seemed nervous for first time in the game.
Francesca Colletta and Nicole Zanetta restored calm (8-5).
Greece tried a comeback and was close to tie the match, but lost 9-8 so bronze medal belonged to Italy.
Caterina Banchelli (ITA) - Player of the match
This bronze medal is like a gold medal for us.
Paolo Zizza (ITA) - Head Coach
This bronze medal is very important to water polo in Italy. I am very happy. My team was fantastic during the tournament. Players are really young and this result will help them to grow and to improve as a team.
Stefanos Leandros (GRE) - Head Coach
At the beginning some things went wrong for us. We didn't have the control of the game. We had some injuries. We lost two of our girls during the first quarter so we had to make some adjustments. We had many chances to draw, like six of five. It should be a big lesson for us. We have to control our feelings, our minds in order to success.
Quarters: 3-5, 0-2, 2-2, 0-2
Referees: Darren Brown Spiritosanto (USA) and Marjay Zsolt (HUN)
Teams
NETHERLANDS: Sarah Buis, Lieke Rogge (3), Rozanne Voorvelt, Marit van der Weijden (1), Isis Keijzer, Simone van de Kraats (1), Nina Ten Broek, Maxine Schaap, Lot Stertefeld, Laura Schinkel, Sam Jutte, Storm Willemsen, Janieke Oosting. Head Coach: Evangelos Doudesis.
RUSSIA: Evgeniia Golovina, Polina Kempf (4), Elizaveta Zaplatina, Margarita Pystina (1), Anastassia Diachenko (1), Polina Popova (3), Daria Chagochkina (1), Anastasia Leonova, Regina Galimzianova, Tatiana Tolkunova (2), Anastasiia Shapkina, Nadezhda Lipskaia, Svetlana Stepakhina. Head Coach: Sergey Markoch.
Six wins out of six matches sum up Russia's power. No team could beat the champion of the past edition, which today captured its second straight FINA World Women's Junior Water Polo Championship crown at the Olympic Swimming Complex in Funchal (POR).
At half time, its advantage was clear (3-7). Polina Kempf, Margarita Pystina, Polina Popova, Daria Chagochkina and Tatiana Tolkunova built a four-goal margin because Netherlands only counted at that moment the goals scored by Lieke Rogge (2) and Marit Van Der Weijden.
In the third quarter, the Dutch team improved its defense but Russia had a response for every goal received (5-9).
At the end, Russia won 5-11 and became world champion again.
Sergey Markoch (RUS) - Head Coach
We are the world champions. I am really satisfied. My girls played very good during the tournament. It was a great tournament for the Russian team.
Evangelos Doudesis (NED) - Head Coach
We are more than proud for what we achieved in short term goals. And we are more than proud for the long term goals of this team. The future is bright. Their road to Paris has just started. Unfortunately we won the silver medal, but Russia was by far the best team in the tournament.
Margarita Pystina (RUS) - Top scorer of the tournament
We competed perfectly during the tournament. I am really happy of being part of the team's victory.
Simone van de Kraats (NED) - MVP of the tournament
I was very shocked because we lost, but now I am happy so we are going to celebrate it. Netherlands won this tournament in 1995. Of course we wanted to win but being in the final is very nice.
