Excellent effort defeats Greece but isn’t enough for World League finals place

Waterpolo.hu – Hungary put on a superb display to beat Greece 13-10 but it is their mediterranean opponents who progress to the World League finals in China in June having denied the hosts the five-goal margin of victory they needed to become group winners.

After a disappointing first period in which Hungary fell 3-1 and then 4-2 behind, Tibor Benedek’s team roared back into contention with a 5-2 second-quarter success to lead 7-6 at half-time. The goals were coming from the usual variety of sources, two superb finishes from Balázs Hárai added to braces of goals from Márton Vámos and Dénes Varga and a howitzer of a throw from Gergő Zalánki.

The third quarter saw a predictable response from the world championship bronze-medallists but Hungary still held them 3-3 to lead 9-8 with one quarter remaining. A remarkable win seemed on the cards when they surged 12-9 ahead with more than five minutes remaining but this Greek national team is made of stern stuff, a team which kept sneaking goals to stop Hungary extending their lead to the magic five-goal margin. The final score was 13-10, not quite what Hungary were aiming for but still very encouraging ahead of the Olympic summer to come.

Photo: MTI

Source: Press release – waterpolo.hu