With the women’s finals combinations nearly settled, now it is time for the men to shoot for the final two berths for the World Aquatics Women’s Water Polo World Cup finals to be staged in Los Angeles, United States of America in June. All teams will play four matches at the Schwimm & Sprunghalle im Europasportpark with a tough two-match programme on the first day — Friday.
This week marks the first time that a Division II grouping will contest a World Aquatics World Cup men’s water polo event under the new format started this year. The Division I group contested their tournament in Zagreb, Croatia and Podgorica, Montenegro in March, producing six qualifiers in Spain, Greece, Serbia, Italy, USA and Hungary.
The top two in Berlin will gain access to the top echelon and the cut-throat nature of the event means you have to finish one-two in your group to have any chance on the third day.
Normally the final day would see the top two teams go head to head, but the new system gives one extra chance to the second-placed teams in the groups to play the top teams on the other side of the draw for a chance to progress.
Who are the contenders?
Group A contains New Zealand, Romania, Kazakhstan and Iran.
Group B has Malta, South Africa, China and Germany.
A dip into history
The World Cup has never had the status that the women had as the Olympics had been around more than 80 years when the first FINA World Cup was played in Belgrade and Rijeka in the old Yugoslavia. Hungary was the initial winner in what has always been an eight-nation competition. There have been 14 medal winners (including the Yugoslavian iterations) with Hungary topping the medal table with four gold, four silvers and two bronzes.
Yugoslavia, Serbia, USA and the old USSR were double winners. Germany, Italy, Russia, Serbia & Montenegro were the single winners. Australia (1S, 1B), Croatia (1S, 1B), Cuba (1B), Greece (1S) and Spain (5B) were other medallists.
Five of this week’s teams have World Cup history. Germany is a previous winner and three-time contestant; Romania has also contested three tournaments; South Africa twice and Iran and Kazakhstan once each.
This year’s contenders
The best guide to who might make the top two and go to California comes from last year’s FINA World Championships in Budapest. South Africa was the highest ranked at 12th with Germany in 13th and Kazakhstan 14th. Romania finished 10th at last year’s LEN European Championships and supplied the competition’s leading scorer in Tudor Fulea. Germany beat Malta for 13th classification.
New Zealand passed up the trip to Budapest after finishing 16th in Gwangju, South Korea in 2019. Uzbekistan’s last big showing was winning the FINA Development Trophy in 2013. Iran is a triple medallist from the Development Trophy
Match schedule
May 5
08:30, Group A, Romania v Iran
10:00, Group A, New Zealand v Kazakhstan
11:30, Group B, China v South Africa
13:30, Group B, Germany v Malta
16:00, Group A, Romania v Kazakhstan
17:30, Group A, New Zealand v Iran
19:00, Group B, China v Malta
20:30, Group B, Germany v South Africa
May 6
14:00, Group B, Malta v South Africa
15:45, Group A, New Zealand v Romania
17:30, Group A, Kazakhstan v Iran
19:15 Group B, Germany v China
May 7
14:00, 4B v 4A
15:45, 3B v 3A
17:30, 1A v 2B
19:15, 1B v 2A