The men’s national polo team begins its journey to the European championship today, facing Hungary (20:00), in the group premiere.
After three great successes in the Olympic Games and the World Cup, the team of Thodoris Vlachos wants to maintain its momentum and win the only medal it lacks.
If he manages to reach the podium he will break a long negative tradition, since he has not managed to win a medal in a European championship so far. Twice he came within a breath of a medal, in 1999 and 2016, but was limited to fourth place.
The mission to triumph
The blue and white team traveled to Zagreb with a great comeback. THE Angelos Vlachopoulos he was absent from the Fukuoka World Cup due to a personal problem, but returned to the European mission.
Yiannis Fundoulis is the most experienced player of the group, since this is the eighth European championship he will participate in, while Angelos Vlachopoulos and Giorgos Dervisis count their sixth participation. Stathis Kalogeropoulos makes his debut in the event.
The 15 players that Thodoris Vlahos has at his disposal are: Manos Zerdevas, Dinos Genidounias, Dimitris Skoumbakis, Kostas Giuvetsis, Yiannis Fountoulis, Alexandros Papanastasiou, Giorgos Dervisis, Stelios Argyropoulos – Kanakakis, Dimitris Nikolaidis, Kostas Kakaris, Stathis Kalogero Poulos, Angelos Vlachopoulos, Panagiotis Tjortzatos, Nikos Gillas, Yiannis Alafragkis.
The mission is completed by the assistant coach, Tasos Schizas, the physiotherapist, Alexandros Koliatos, the doctor, Spyros Balas, the gymnast, Manolis Vassiliadis, the video-statistics technician, Christos Kodellas and the manager, Giorgos Margiouklas.
Premiere with Hungary
The heavy schedule of the national team will start today (Thursday 4/1) at 20:00 against Hungary (broadcast by ERT3). On Saturday (6/1) at 20:00 the game against Italy will be played, while on Monday (8/1) at 18:00 it will complete its obligations in the group with the game against Georgia.
The National team’s group will cross with Group C (4A-1C, 3A-2C), consisting of Serbia, Germany, Israel and Malta.
Montenegro, Spain, France, Croatia are in Group A and Slovakia, Netherlands, Slovenia and Romania are in Group D.
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