The Hungarian national water polo team made it to the 2016 Olympic Games

Nemzetisport.hu reports that even though it was a tough game, the Hungarian team eventually won against Germany, and thus gained their qualification to the Olympic Games, held in Rio, this year. Congratulations to the team!

The 8^th of April brought victory for Hungary at the Men’s Water Polo Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Trieste as they beat Germany. The aim of the Hungarian team was all along to get on top of their group and qualify themselves to Rio. According to Nemzeti Sport, pre-game, their chances of beating the German team were great, though, it would have been a mistake to treat them carelessly. During the match, the Hungarians seemed to win easily, however, in the final quarter the Germans scored goals until they needed only one more to equate. But, they could not. Hungary won!

The Hungarians started off pretty well, Erdélyi scored a goal at the beginning of the match. The emphasis was on the defence, for more than ten minutes the Germans could not make any goals. Hungarians however, could, by half-time they had scored five goals, while the opponents two. In the third quarter of the match, the German goalkeeper, Kong successfully fulfilled his position, making it difficult to the Hungarians to score a goal, eventually they could manage to make two, so the scoreboard displayed 7-3 by the beginning of the last quarter.

Excitingly, after the last quarter began, the Hungarian team quickly increased their advantage by scoring five goals, which made them feel as if they had already won. But, the German team had different thoughts, they started to pull themselves together and were getting close to the Hungarians, whose offence seemed to get less effective. Only one goal was between the two teams 1.5 minutes before the end of the match, making the whole game more exciting and tense. In the end, the Hungarian team could preserve their leading position, ending the game with the score 8-7.

Head coach, Tibor Benedek said after the match, that it had probably been the most difficult time for the team, as there was a lot to lose and they did not underestimate the German team for a minute. Also, they had to live up to the expectations to win, even though, it was not easy. Furthermore, he mentioned how big the pressure was on the team to make it to the Olympics, especially because – except for two occasions – Hungary always gets to the Olympics. All in all, he said that he was very happy and their dream came true by winning.

Hungary 8-7 Germany (1-0, 4-2, 2-1, 1-4)

Hungary: Nagy V. – Vámos, Erdélyi 2, Szivós 1, Varga Dániel, Varga Dénes 3, Hárai. Replacements: Zalánki, Manhercz K. 2, Hosnyánszky, Decker Á., Bedő. Head coach: Benedek Tibor

Photo: MTI

Copy editor: bm

Source: nemzetisport.hu, waterpolo.hu