Greece’s men’s and women’s national water polo teams have reached the quarterfinals of the European Championships in Barcelona after the Men’s great win over Germany on Sunday. The women’s team is also in the last eight of the competition.
Greece qualified for the quarter-finals of the Men’s European Water Polo Championship in style, crushing Germany 13:5 in the first playoff round.
The Greeks performed well in Group C, but after defeating Turkey 27:1 and the Netherlands 12:7 in the opening two fixtures, the team dropped a disappointing 7:11 loss to world champions Croatia in the third match. Nevertheless, the Ethniki Omada responded in the playoffs, cruising past an average German side which finished in third spot of Group A.
Germany stuck with the opponents in the first period losing 3:5, but it was a different story in the second frame, as Greece scored three unanswered goals to open up a confident 8:3 lead. In complete control of proceedings, the Greeks outscored the Germans 5:2 in the concluding half, running out 13:5 winners. Konstantinos Genidounias, Dimitrios Skoumpakis, Stylianos Argyropoulos and Christodoulos Kolomvos all scored two markers each.
On Tuesday, Greece will face Spain in the quarter-finals. The Spaniards won Group B with seven points from three matches.
The women’s team ended up second in its pool, going down to the Netherlands 8-7 on Saturday to miss out on the top spot, but have also reached the quarterfinals and will go up against Russia on Monday for a place in the semi-finals.
by Shaun Nicolaides
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