Spain smashes Italy

In the first highlighted match of the tournament Spain didn’t leave any chance to Italy and earned a comfortable 16-10 win. Spain’s Roser Tarrago enjoyed a terrific match as she netted 7 goals. The other favourites added big wins again.

8 ITA BIANCONI Roberta Italy Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena Italy (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

5 ESP TARRAGO AYMERICH Roser Spain Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena Italy (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

4 VAN DER SLOOT Cathari NED – Netherlands 2 VOSSEBERG Belen NED – Netherlands Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena GER – Germany (white caps) Vs. NED – Netherlands (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

5 WOLVES Iris NED – Netherlands Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena GER – Germany (white caps) Vs. NED – Netherlands (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

12 DAULE Audrey FRA France Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena ISR- Israel (white caps) Vs. FRA – France (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

3 KURUCOVA Janka SVK Slovakia 10 GYONGYOSSY Aniko HUN Hungary Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena SVK – Slovakia (white caps) Vs. HUN – Hungary (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

3 MATE Zsuzsanna HUN Hungary Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena SVK – Slovakia (white caps) Vs. HUN – Hungary (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

5 NED WOLVES Iris Netherlands, 4 NED VAN DER SLOOT Catharina Netherlands Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena GERMANY (white caps) Vs. NETHERLANDS (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

11 RUS IVANOVA Evgeniya Russia, 11 SRB MILICEVIC Ana Serbia Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena RUSSIA (white caps) Vs. SERBIA (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

13 RUS KARNAUKH Anna Russia Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena RUSSIA (white caps) Vs. SERBIA (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

12 RUS FEDOTOVA Anastasia Russia, 1 SRB LAZIC Vanja Serbia Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena RUSSIA (white caps) Vs. SERBIA (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

BRUZZO Florian coach of France Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena ISRAEL (white caps) Vs. FRANCE (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

12 FRA DAULE Audrey France Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena ISRAEL (white caps) Vs. FRANCE (blue caps) Women XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Official Ball KapSeven Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena Croatia (white caps) Vs. Greece (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

11 GRE PLEVRITOU Eleftheria Greece, 5 CRO LORDAN Dina Croatia Budapest 13/01/2020 Duna Arena Croatia (white caps) Vs. Greece (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Women’s Round 2
Group A: Croatia v Greece 3-18, Russia v Serbia 27-2, Slovakia v Hungary 2-20.
Standings: 1. Russia 6, 2. Hungary 6, 3. Greece 6, 4. Croatia 0, 5. Serbia 0, 6. Slovakia 0
Group B: Italy v Spain 10-16, Germany v Netherlands 3-23, Israel v France 6-10
Standings: 1. Netherlands 6, 2. Spain 6, 3. Italy 3, 4. France 3, 5. Israel 0, 6. Germany 0

Though a huge game was expected early in the evening between 2019 world silver medallist Spain and Rio runner-up Italy, it ended up in a bit of disappointment as the game offered no real excitement. It quickly turned into the same one-sided match as any other so far in the tournament: Spain rushed to a 2-5 lead in eight minutes and was already 4-9 up at halftime.

Roser Tarrago was simply unstoppable in the first half, she netted 6 and finished the match with 7 goals. Spain was already 5-12 up in the third before the Italians managed to pull back two but the gap never dropped below 5 goals till the end. Besides poor defending, Italy’s miseries were mirrored by their shooting precision, only 13 attempts were on target out of 27.

In the other games Russia set the daily scoring record once more, this time with 27 goals (against Serbia – the men’s match tomorrow is set to see a different outcome). The title-holder Dutch side almost repeated the same win against Germany (23-3) what they had delivered against Israel on the opening day (22-3). In fact, the big teams’ defences worked well today, Greece also conceded only 3 goals, and Hungary held Slovakia on 2.

France earned an important and comfortable win against Israel and took the first important step to secure a quarter-final berth – they still need to overcome Germany in the next round on Wednesday.

Today the first positive VAR-check occurred (goal was called and the call stood in the game between Italy and Spain), on the opening day a call had been overturned and the goal was revoked after the referees checked the replay.

On Tuesday the men’s tournament kicks off at 10.00 – this time the evening clash between Italy and Greece promises something extra, at least that is expected, just like before the second round of the women’s tourney…

For more details, detailed statistics, play-by-play descriptions visit:
http://wp2020budapest.microplustiming.com

Press release from LEN, images courtesy of Deepbluemedia

No hiccups on the opening day

All six favourites claimed multiple-goal wins on the opening day of the women’s tournament at the 34th European Championships in Budapest. Russia managed to score more than 30 goals, this occurred only 5th time in the history of the continental showcase.

7 ESP ESPAR LLAQUET Clara Spain Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena France (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Time Out ESP Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena France (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

10 ISR MONE Mackenzie Israel Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena Netherlands (white caps) Vs. Israel (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Croatia Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Croatia (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

8 HUN KESZTHELYI-NAGY Rita Hungary Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena Hungary (white caps) Vs. Croatia (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

12 XENAKI Eleni GRE Greece Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena GRE – Greece (white caps) Vs. SRB – Serbia (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Referee Carlos ORTEGA (ESP) Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena GRE – Greece (white caps) Vs. SRB – Serbia (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

3 PANTOVIC Jovana SRB Serbia Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena GRE – Greece (white caps) Vs. SRB – Serbia (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

12 SLEEKING Brigitte NED Netherlands Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena NED – Netherlands (white caps) Vs. ISR Israel (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

6 GORBUNOVA Olga RUS Russia Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena SVK – Slovakia (white caps) Vs. RUS – Russia (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

1 KISSOVA Emoke GK SVK – Slovakia Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena SVK – Slovakia (white caps) Vs. RUS – Russia (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HENKRICH Milan Slovakia Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena Slovakia (white caps) Vs. Russia (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

BACHELIER Lea FRA, CRESPI BARRIGA Paula ESP Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena FRANCE (white caps) Vs. SPAIN (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

4 ITA AVEGNO Silvia Italy Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena GERMANY (white caps) Vs. ITALY (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

4 GER EGGERT Sophia Germany celebrates after scoring a goal Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena GERMANY (white caps) Vs. ITALY (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

5 ITA QUEIROLO Elisa Italy Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena GERMANY (white caps) Vs. ITALY (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Hungarian Fans Budapest 12/01/2020 Duna Arena HUNGARY (white caps) Vs. CROATIA (blue caps) XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Women’s Round 1
Group A: Slovakia v Russia 2-31, Greece v Serbia 26-7, Hungary v Croatia 25-6
Group B: France v Spain 6-15, Germany v Italy 4-13, Netherlands v Israel 22-3

As expected, the six favourite sides didn’t have any headaches while thrashing their respective opponents on Day 1 in the magnificent Duna Arena. Russia opened the tournament with a 31-2 win over Slovakia, the only new team in the field compared to 2018. After the Dutch set a scoring record of 37 goals back in the very first edition in 1985, it was the Russians who got close two years ago in Barcelona (35) against Turkey. Then the Dutch and the Hungarians also beat the Turks by netting 32 goals respectively in 2018 – now Russia managed to repeat the scoring festival and netted 30+ goals for the fifth time in the history of the Europeans (Slovakia ousted Turkey in the qualifications).

Group A saw two more high-scoring matches as Greece amassed 26 against Serbia while host Hungary stopped at 25 against Croatia.

The title-holder Netherlands enjoyed an easy cruise against Israel in Group B. The more experienced sides, Germany and France, who usually finish behind the top six teams, managed to do some fine defending. Both reached a 9-goal defeat, the French against the 2019 world silver medallist Spanish side, while the Germans against the 2016 Olympic runner-up Italians. These two superpowers’ clash on Monday will be the first highlighted game of the tournament.

For more details, detailed statistics, play-by-play descriptions visit:
http://wp2020budapest.microplustiming.com

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia