The Russian team won bronze and reached the final of the 4x4 Water Polo World Championship in Croatia

The first ever 4x4 World Water Polo Championship in Croatia was brilliant for the Russian team. The women's team won bronze, and the men's team even won the right to play in the decisive match of the world championship, where our guys fought, but lost to the powerful Spanish team. Regular time of the final ended with the score 2-2 (2:1, 3:4, 3:2, 4:5), and the Russians lost 1:3 in the penalty shootout.

Great start to the World Cup

New disciplines have been actively emerging in world sports in recent years. So in water polo they decided to update the variations of the game by launching competitions in a four-on-four format. And it turned out that the Russian team is very good here. Perhaps even stronger than usual. In general, it must be said that water polo became the first team sport to which Russians were returned after all the unpleasant stories with suspension.

So in the 4x4 format, obviously, there were no barriers to the participation of our athletes, and this happened with the flag and anthem. Both the men's and women's teams made it through the group stage confidently at the historic World Cup in Dubrovnik. In the first three meetings at the tournament, the girls left no chance at all for the teams of South Africa, Greece and Turkey, defeating everyone in three sets. But then there was a misfire in the game with Spain.

However, this did not prevent the Russians from making it to the playoffs, but ours still failed to reach the final. In the quarterfinals, the girls defeated the Greek team, but in the semifinals they lost to the same Spanish girls with a score of 0-3 in sets, who will now compete for gold with the USA. But the Russian men's team managed to go as far as possible.

Drama with the hosts in the semi-finals and the decisive battle

Firstly, the group stage also passed for our athletes almost without errors. Although difficulties sometimes arose. So, in the first match against the USA we had to work hard, but the Russians still won with a score of 3-2. But we lost to Montenegro in a penalty shootout. Then there were successes in the confrontation with Saudi Arabia and Malta and a well-deserved entry into the playoffs.

In the quarterfinals, our men had to play again with Montenegro, which inflicted the only defeat on Russia in the group. And the Montenegrins were unable to repeat that triumph. Russian water polo players calmly reacted to the result and moved on. And in the semi-finals there was real drama. The main time of the confrontation with Croatia ended with the score 2-2, so everything was decided by a penalty shootout, where, more precisely, it was the Russians who upset the tournament hosts.