In the semi-finals of the World Junior Men’s National Polo – Plays Serbia

In his semi-finals World Junior Men’s Championship of polo was qualified by National team. Ilias Machira’s band beat Spain 11-10 on penalties (regular match 6-6) in the first-ever quarterfinal of the event and will claim the eighth medal in its history in the event on Friday, against Serbia.

In the last time quarter-final, the “Plavi” pulled off a tremendous upset and beat Croatia 16-15 on penalties, despite trailing 11-7 at the end of the third quarter. It is noted that the Greek team had also faced Serbia in the first phase of the competition, where they lost 14-12.

In the other semi-final, Hungary will face the USA. The Magyars, who remain the tournament’s only undefeated team, easily defeated Italy 9-5, while the Americans pulled off a surprise win over Montenegro 10-9. The curious thing is that all the teams in the quartet come from the 2nd group, where the national team lost three times and finished last.

The Greek internationals looked extremely cool in the penalty shootout, starting with 4/4 (Gillas, Kastrinakis, Almyras, Pouros), as did the Spaniards. In the fifth series of executions, Nektarios Iliopoulos – who also played a great game today with 14 interventions – saved Villamayor’s penalty and gave the great opportunity to Apostolos Georgaras. The Patrinos player did not make a mistake and made the final 11-10, which sends the national team to the top four.

The eight minutes (with Spain first): 1-2, 1-2, 2-2, 2-0

On penalties: 4-5

The compositions:

Spain (Chush Martin): Allegre, Villamayor, Hill 1, Valls 1, Lopez 4, Perone, Barhajo 1, Ivaylov 1, Perez 2, Bruce, Bonnet, Gomila, Teklas

Greece (Ilias Machiras): Karakouros, Bouzalas, Kandanoleon, Georgaras 2, Almyras 2, Kastrinakis 1, Gillas 2, Andr. Bitsakos, Ch. Bitsakos 1, Pouros 3, Spahits, Laskaridis, Iliopoulos