Israel and the team of the Neutral Athletes B finished atop in the respective groups in the Division One tournament in Oeiras at the Men’s U20 European Championship. Belgium and Poland joined them as runners-up, so these four sides are set to contest the semi-finals.
Israel enjoyed a smooth run in the Group Stage, and they could have finished with a perfect record but an unexpected crash against Belgium ended in a shootout on Day 3. Leading 13-7 after three periods, they were all set to claim another win but the Belgians staged a comeback while the Israelis lost their composure completely and their rivals had 0-6 run in five minutes to bring the match to penalties. Israel bounced back and won the shootout, however, and didn’t commit the same mistake in their remaining ties.
Belgium came out on top despite losing a great clash to Great Britain, 12-14, as they could beat the other rivals, Ukraine, the Neutral Athletes A and Switzerland.
At the same time, the Brits couldn’t capitalise on that victory. All their matches were balanced but they ended up losing to Ukraine and the Neutral Athletes A, and they also served a swift challenge to Israel, they were dropped to the fifth place in the group as a three-way tie favoured the others.
In the other group, the picture was much clearer. The Neutral Athletes B team swept aside all rivals. The Russians hit 129 goals in six matches, their closest win was a 10-goal blast over Georgia – it’s hard to see anyone stop them in the knockout phase.
The second semi-final spot was decided in the very last round between Poland and Georgia. The first half brought a toe-to-toe battle with 7 goals apiece, then the Polish had a great spell and built a three-goal lead before the last break. However, the Georgians climbed back and netted three connecting goals for 11-11, but Bartosz Grabinski hit the winner from action with 1:24 to go to send Poland to the semis.
Men’s U20 European Water Polo Championships, Division One, Oeiras
Classification
Group A: 1. Israel 14, 2. Belgium 10, 3. Ukraine 6, 4. Neutral Athletes A 6, 5. Great Britain 6, 6. Switzerland 0
Group B: 1. Neutral Athletes B 15, 2. Poland 12, 3. Georgia 9, 4. Portugal 6, 5. Lithuania 3, 6. Finland 0
Fixtures, semi-finals
- Israel v Poland
- Neutral Athletes B v Belgium
For detailed results:
For Division Elite results, check out the results on this link:
Watch each game from both divisions live on www.euroaquaticstv.com
