Less than a month until European Water Polo Championship in Budapest

There is less than a month until the European Water Polo Championship starts in Budapest, and the president of the Hungarian Water Polo Association has revealed that the preparations for the event are going well.

Attila Vári thanked supporters, the Hungarian government and the team of over one hundred people who work in the background on Monday’s press conference, reported Origo.

David Székely, editor-in-chief of M4 Sport, emphasised that during the year of the Olympics it is even more important to show how successful Hungarian athletes are. He added that they are confident that, just like at the 2017 Wet World Championship, Hungarian teams will fight for medals again on the home field.

He also said that they are especially preparing for the continental battle, the Hungarian matches will be broadcast from 7 PM, commentated by István Hajdú B.

He hopes spectators will have a busy two days on January 25 and 26, as on these dates medal battles are held in the Danube Arena and the European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Debrecen.

Gergely Csurka, press officer of the European Association (LEN), said that the organisation had already held its last check-in in Budapest, which has shown that preparations to be indeed very well underway. He explained that in addition to broadcasting M4 Sport in at least 30 countries, matches would be available on LEN’s website worldwide.

The event introduced the European Championship mascot as well, which will be the main character of the popular Hungarian cartoon Vízipók-csodapók.

The main sponsors of the European Championship will be E.ON Hungária Zrt., Szerencsejáték Zrt., Gránit Bank Zrt. and Porsche Hungaria.

The European Championship will take place between January 12 and 26, with teams from 16 countries for men and 12 for women. An Olympic quota is available for both genders.

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In another article, Origo also reported, that Attila Bíró, the captain of the Hungarian women’s water polo team, had announced his 19-member group for the European Championship.

“I have invited the nineteen players who have a realistic chance of joining the European Championship Thirteen. There’s a lot of water training and conditioning training, and we will do everything that can fit into these three weeks,” Bíró said.

The group started training last week, with two sessions a day; the coach had also revealed that this would be the shortest time for preparation the group will have because of the holidays.

They will play five official matches before the start of the European Championships in Russia and Greece where World League battles await them and play an international tournament in Dunaújváros in early January.

The framework of the Hungarian national team:
Goalkeepers: Edina Gangl (UVSE), Orsolya Kasó (FTC), Alda Magyari (Eger)
field players: Dóra Antal (UVSE), Dóra Csabai (FTC), Kamilla Caragó (UVSE), Krisztina Garda (Dunaújváros), Gréta Gurisatti (Dunaújváros), Anikó Gyöngyössy (BVSC), Brigitta Horváth (DTC), Anna Illés (FTC) Rita Keszthelyi (UVSE), Dóra Leimeter (BVSC), Zsuzsanna Máté (FTC), Rebecca Parkes (UVSE), Natasa Rybanska (UVSE), Dorottya Szilágyi (Eger), Gabriella Szücs (UVSE), Vanda Vályi (Dunaújváros)

You can catch the national team on:

December 17: Russia-Hungary – World Cup Qualifier
December 23: Greece-Hungary – World Cup Qualifier
January 4-6: Preparatory gymnastics, Dunaújváros (Hungary, Greece, France, China)

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Source: origo.hu