Eight matches in the first day: that was our programme for the start of the 17th FINA World Championships at Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex. The home team and fans can be satisfied. Russia bear Greece in the last game of the day.

Day 1, women's water polo tournament of the 17th FINA World Championships /fina-budapest2017.com/

W1 Group A:

Italy-Canada 10-4 (1-2, 2-0, 3-0, 4-2)
Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex, referees: Naumov (RUS), Mercier (FRA)

Italy: Gorleno – Garibotti 1, Queriolo 2, Radicchi, Aiello 1, Bianconi 2, Emmolo 1. Subs: Tabani, Cotti 2, Dario, Picozzi 1, Palmieri. Head coach: Fabio Conti

Canada: Gaudreault – Alogbo, Wright 1, Eggens 2, Christmas, Robinson, Fournier. Subs: McKee 1, Crevier, Bekhazi, Lenay-Lavoie. McKelvey. Head coach: Teocharis Pavlidis

Extramen: 1/6 and 1/3
Penalties: 1/1 and 1/1
Exlused: Robinson (CAN)

World League silver medallist Canada started the game really well their defense was great including goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault good performance – she was the best goalkeeper in the World League Super Final in June.

Photo: Máté Balogh/Bp2017

But in the second quarter Italy started to dominate the game and made a spectacular 5-0 series. In the second half of the match Italian ladies played in an other dimension and finally won the game confidently.

For flash quotes click here.

W2 Group A:

Brazil-China 4-11 (2-4, 0-2, 2-1, 0-4)
Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex, referres: Flahive (AUS), Ohme (GER) 

Brazília: Abla – Zablith 1, Cardos 1, Amaral, Dias 1, Bahia, Duarte 1. Subs: K. Ferreira, S. Ferreira, Belorio. Head coach: Eduardo Abla

Kína: Peng – Mei, Xiong, Niu 1, Guo, C. Zhang 3, Z. Zhang 2. Subs: Shen (goalkeeper), Bi, Nong 1, D. Zhang 1, Chen 2, J. Zhong 1. Head coach: Dali Gong

Extraman: 1/6 and 2/12
Exclused: Bahia (Brazília)

After a dinamic start the match soon brought us the first goals of the game. From 2-0 the Chinese team managed to turn the game around, therefore by the end of the quarter the Chinese lead grew to two points. The sharp and fast attacks  of the Asian team has proved to be impossible to defend for the Brazilian team. In the third quarter China continued its agressive attacks, but the Brazilians managed to make use of their opportunities better therefore they emerged as the winner of the quarter. The constantly offensive Chinese tactics proved to be more resulting, the Brazilians tried to score some goals from a long distance but mostly failed. The match ended with three strong Chinese hits.

For flash quotes click here.

W3 Group B

New Zealand-Spain 2-10 (0-3, 1-1, 0-2, 1-4)
Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex, referees: Salnichenko (RUS), Molnár P. (HUN)

New Zealand: Minleich – Mason 1, Lopes da Silva 1, Stoneman, Bowry, Hudson, Pye. Subs. Lewis, Ferigo, Doyle, Houghton. Head coach: Andrea Winstanley-Smith

Spain: Ramos – A. Espar 2, B. Ortiz, M. Ortiz, Gomez 2, C. Espar, P. Rovirosa 3. Subs. Bach, Carrasco, Forca 1, Barriga 1, A. Rovirosa 1. Head coach: Miguel Oca

Extraman: 0/9 and 5/10
Penalties: 0/0 and 1/1
Exlused: Mason Kelly (Nee Zealand)

In 2014 Spain had a fantastic event at Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex as they won the European Championships in Budapest. Now they have big aims for the 17th FINA World Championships also and for these goals a clear and easy victory against New Zealand was the first step.

There was no question during the game, kiwis only had some moments (and their defense was suprisingly good) but Spain dominated the whole game and claimed the three points.

For flash quotes click here.

W4 Group B

Republic of South Africa–United States 2-24 (0-6, 0-7, 2-5, 0-6)
Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex, referees: Garibaldi (ARG), Daners (URU)

South Africa: Penny – Paley, Schooling 1, Hallendorf, Barret 1, White, Nixon. Subs: Thomas, Faulman, Wessels, Keeny, Smit, Manson. Head Coach: Gareth Samuel

United States: Stone – Seidemann 5, Fattal 3, Raney, Neushul Kiley 3, Neushul Jamie 6, Fischer Makenzie 2, Williams 1. Subs: Musselmann, Hauschild 2, Steffens, Fischer Aria 2, Longan. Head Coach: Krikorian Adam

Extramen: 1/5 and 2/4

The whole match was unquestionably dominated by the American national team. They lead grew to six goals by the end of the first quarter. Almost every single American shot ended up in the South African goal, while their opponents could barely launch any successful attack against them.

The match ended with a crushing American victory.

For flash quotes click here.

W6 Group C:

Netherlands-France 17-2 (7-0, 5-0, 3-1, 2-1)
Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex, referees: Florestano (BRA) Ni (CHN)

Netherlands: Willemsz- Smit 1, Genee 3, van der Sloot 3, Stomphorst, Sevenich 1, Megens 3. Csere: Genee 1, Nijhuis, Koolhaas, Megens 3, Joustra 1, Klaassen 4, Joustra 1, Aarts. Head coach: Arno Havenga

France: Counil – Millot 1, Guillet, Mahieu 1, Battu, Sacre, Daule. Csere: Bachelier, Sacre, Valverde, Deschampt, Barbieux. Head coach: Florian Bruzzo

Extramen: 2/4 and 0/3
Penalties: 3/3 and 0/0
Exclused: Bachelier és Deschampt (France)

As the favourite of the match, the Netherlands won the first World Championship-game against France with a big margin. The Dutch had a powerful start and led by seven goals after the first quarter. The team of Arno Havenga played with spirit and the French team could only scored its first goal in the third quarter, while the Dutch’s goalie, Willemsz had a very good game. The dynamism of the European vice-champion decreased for the second part of the match and the French take a little advantage of this scoring their goals, meanwhile, the head coach of the Netherlands gave opportunity to all his players. 

For flash quotes click here.

W7 Group D

Australia - Kazakhstan 16-4 (4-1, 4-1, 4-2, 4-0)
Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex, referees: Mikhail Dykman (CAN), Dion Willis (RSA)

Australia: Yanitsas – Gofers 2, Buckling 1, Halligan, Bishop 2, Ridge 1, Webster 5. Subs: Zimmerman, Arancini 3, Mihailovic, Baxter, Steere 2, Hedges. Head coach: Kechagias Athasios

Kazakhstan: Zharkimbayeva – Akilbayera 1, Turova, Yevemina, Myrzabekava, Murshina 1, Mussarova. Subs: Raiter, Zakirova 2, Roga, Novikova, Saichuk, Alibayeva . Head coach: Andrey Sazykin

The heavy favorite Australia did not start great, but they started to dominate at the end of the first quarter and did exactly the same for the rest of the game. They scored spectacular goals, Rowie Webster herself scored five of them, and three of their first five. 

The script of the game did not change much in the second half, Australia still dominated and Kazakhstan did not have much more sense of achievement. They scored twice in the third quarter, exactly the amount of the other three quarters. Kamila Zakirova took the reins with two goals.

W5 Group C:

Hungary-Japan 20-11 (4-1, 8-3, 5-2, 3-5)
Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex, referees: Steven Rotsart (USA), Alessandro Severo (ITA)

Magyarország: Gangl – Czigány 1, Keszthelyi 4, Tóth 4, Bujka 5, Csabai, Szilágyi 2. Subs: Antal 2, Gurisatti 2, Szűcs, Takács, Illés, Kasó. Head coach: Bíró Attila

Japan: Aoki – Sakanoue, Yamamoto 4, Inaba 2, Noro, Tokumoto, Suzuki. Subs: Arima 4, Kazama 1, Magariyama, Niizawa, Hosoya, Shioya. Head coach:: Hideo Katho

Extramen: 1/1 and 3/4   

As expected, Hungary dominated this game and took control of it early on, they scored eight in the second quarter alone. Barbara Bujka scored five of Hungary’s first ten, but Hungary’s other center, Ildikó Tóth scored four times as well. The most spectacular goal of the game came from Hungary’s captain, Rita Keszthelyi with an amazing twist shot.

The great audience was able to shout out the name of world championship rookie Dorottya Szilágyi a couple of times as well. Speaking of the audience, the atmosphere was unbelievable in the Hajós Alfréd Complex for the first game of the host team.

Japan was able to come back a little bit in the final quarter, which they won 5 to 3. Their best players were Minori Yamamoto and Yumi Arima, who each scored four times.

W8 Group D:

Russia-Greece 9-7 (2-1, 4-3, 2-3, 1-0)
Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex, referees: Buch (ESP), Alexandrescu (ROU)

Russia: Karnaukh – Prokofjeva, Karimova 3, Simanovich 3, Tolkunova, Ivanova 1, Ryzhkova. Csere: Vakhitova, Borisova 1, Gorbunova, Timofeeva 1, Serzhantova. Head coach: Alexander Gaidukov

Greece: Diamanthopolou – Tsokuala, Diamanthopoulou 2, Avramidou, Asimaki 2, Manolioudaki, E. Plevritou 1. Csere: Eleftheriadou, Chydiritou, Kotsia, Xenaki 2. Head coach: Georgios Morfesis

Match of the day – we said in the daily preview about Russia-Greece. Why? Because in the last years of international women’s water polo, meeting of these two teams gave us some excellent games. For example last year in Gouda, where Russia knocked Greece out of the Olympic Game as winning the quarterfinal of the qualification tournament.

On Sunday Russia made a good start although Greece scored the first goal of the game. In the middle of the second quarter Russian ladies were in a 4-1 advantage with Borisova’s goal. The match became more and more balanced in the third quarter but finally Russia kept the advantage and won the first round match.

For flash quotes click here.

fina-budapest2017.com

Photo: Máté Balogh/Bp2017