Water Polo: Slovakia and Malta finish in second place

Here the team of 2012 Olympic host Great Britain gained a 5-5 tie against Slovakia. It was not enough for second place as Slovakia holds an one-point advantage on the table and finished behind the victorious home side. The two teams of group C, played in Odense Denmark are Russia and Malta. The Maltese achieved the nice result after tying with Israel on the final day 6-6. That was enough to finish second behind Russia who convincingly cruised past this round. This year's World League Super Final hosts closed out the weekend trashing Bulgaria on Sunday 36-4. The results of today's matches are as follows:

2014 European Championships
July 13-26, 2014
Budapest, Hungary

Qualification - round 1

Group A in Tblisi, Georgia

Thursday April 4, 2013
17.00 Slovakia vs. Poland 11-1 (4-0, 3-0, 3-1, 1-0)
18.30 Georgia vs. Great Britain 12-3 (3-0, 6-1, 1-0, 2-2)

Friday April 5, 2013
10.00 Czech Republic vs. Slovakia 3-12 (0-3, 0-3, 1-4, 2-2)
11.30 Poland vs. Great Britain 3-11 (1-3, 1-3, 0-4, 1-1)
18.30 Georgia vs. Slovakia 7-7 (3-2, 2-3, 1-2, 1-0)
20.00 Czech Republic vs. Poland 5-8 (3-3, 0-1, 2-2, 0-1)

Saturday April 6, 2013
17.00 Great Britain vs. Czech Republic 17-4
18.30 Georgia vs. Poland 16-10

Sunday April 7, 2013
11.00 Slovakia vs. Great Britain 5-5 (2-0, 1-1, 1-3, 1-1)
12.30 Georgia vs. Czech Republic 16-5 (6-1, 5-1, 1-1, 4-2)

Final ranking group A

1. Georgia 10 pts
2. Slovakia 8
3. Great Britain 7
4. Poland 3
5. Czech Republic 0

Group C in Odense, Denmark

Thursday April 4, 2013
15.00: Bulgaria vs. Israel 6-17
17.00: Malta vs. Portugal 16-8 (6-0, 4-3, 4-3, 2-2)
19.00: Denmark vs. Russia 4-22 (0-4, 1-3, 1-6, 2-9)

Friday April 5, 2013
08.30: Israel vs. Portugal 6-9 (3-3, 1-2, 0-2, 2-2)
10.30: Denmark vs. Bulgaria 19-11
12.30: Russia vs. Malta 20-8 (4-0, 6-0, 6-5, 4-3)

16.00: Bulgaria vs. Portugal 7-18 (1-6, 2-2, 3-5, 1-5)
18.00: Israel vs. Russia 5-23
20.00: Denmark vs. Malta 10-11

Saturday April 6, 2014
16.00: Malta vs. Bulgaria 24-7
18.00: Portugal vs. Russia 5-21 (3-4, 0-4, 2-6, 0-7)
20.00: Denmark vs. Israel 6-13

Sunday April 7, 2014
09.00: Malta vs. Israel 6-6 (2-3, 1-0, 1-1, 2-2)
11.00: Russia vs. Bulgaria 36-4 (10-1, 7-1, 8-2, 11-0)
13.00: Denmark vs. Portugal 7-10

Final ranking group C

1. Russia 15 pts
2. Malta 10
3. Portugal 9
4. Israel 7
5. Denmark 3
6. Bulgaria 0

N.b.: times mentioned are local time

After this first round tournament the teams will be redistributed into three new groups, according to the classification obtained. The final ranking (after the next round) will be defined by the sum of the points scored by the teams in the three qualifying tournament groups. The top two teams from each group will advance to the next stage of the competition where they will face the 7th-12th teams of the 2012 European Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands which are: Spain, Romania, Croatia, Netherlands, Macedonia and Turkey.

The qualifiers second round tournament for the 2014 European Championships are scheduled for July (11-14) and the third (playoffs) in November (07-10). Locations are yet to be decided.