Wins and qualifications for Panionio, Apollon and Vouliagmeni, painless defeat for Panathinaikos

A great qualification to the groups of the Men’s Euro Cup water polo was celebrated by Panionios. In their third and decisive game for the 5th qualifying group, which they hosted in Nea Smyrni, the “blue and red” prevailed much easier than expected German Spandau with 14-8 and occupied the privileged second place, behind the Hungarian Csolnoki. The score at the start of the second period was tied at 3-3, to be followed by a period where Panionios played excellent defence, took full advantage of the penalties won (2/2 on the man over and 2/2 penalty) and took a significant lead with 7- 3. Continuing at the same pace, the team of Kostas Dimos closed the third eight minutes at +6 (11-5) and solemnly reached the victory-qualification.

The eight minutes: 2-2, 5-2, 4-1, 3-3

The composition of Panionio: Galanidis, Kopeliadis 1, Bouzalas, Giuvetsis 2, Papakos 2, Suzuki 3, Grammatikos 1, Takata 1, Mourikis 1, Gounas 1, Bitsakos 2, Kapetanakis, Partsoglou

THE Apollo of Smyrna emphatically secured qualification to the group stage of the Men’s Water Polo Euro Cup, crushing Spain’s Sant Andreu 15-5in his final game for the qualifying round. The “amphibious brigade” took the privileged second place of the 4th group, behind the hosts Mladost Zagreb, and secured the ticket for the continuation of the competition. Despite the stress of a knockout encounter, Petar Radanovic’s side were quick to assert their perceived superiority. After the initial 2-2, the “blue and white” went on a 5-0 run, closed the half leading 7-2 and continued at the same pace, not allowing the Spaniards to claim anything from the game. It is typical that all the players on the field of Apollo scored, while in the last eight minutes the newly acquired goalkeeper, Kostas Limarakis, also played, replacing Stefanos Galanopoulos.

The eight minutes: 4-2, 3-0, 6-1, 2-2

The composition of Apollo: Galanopoulos, Braimis 2, Bogdanovich 2, Radovich 1, Troulos 2, Diplaros 1, Kapotsis 1, Chondrokoukis 1, Foskolos 1, Gardikas 1, Robopoulos 2, Solanakis 1, Limarakis

THE NOV prevailed 15-8 of Italy’s Genoa Quinto in Barcelona, ​​in his last game for the 3rd qualifying group, and secured qualification for the Euro Cup group stage, despite fielding nine players under the age of 20 and without one of his key players (the injured Aristidis Chalivopoulos). The Laimos team was taken by surprise and found themselves 3-0 down after the first five minutes, but Giannis Tottis (NOV’s only transfer this year) responded with three consecutive goals in two minutes and restored… calm. The game remained a derby until half-time (6-6), but then Vouliagmeni, with Stathis Kalogeropoulos as the protagonist and Manos Andreadis excellent under the posts, was the absolute ruler, escaped the score and “cleaned up” the victory. In fact, the “babies” got a significant goal difference, which guarantees them qualification, even in the extreme possibility of an absolute three-way tie at the top of the group (it will happen if, in the following match, Solaris Šibenik beats Barcelona by two goals ).

The eight minutes: 2-3, 4-3, 6-1, 3-1

The composition of Vouliagmeni: Andreadis, T. Kastrinakis, Tottis 5, Kalogeropoulos 4, Almyras 1, Ubovits, Hatzis, Woodhead, N. Kastrinakis 1, Legakis, Spahits 3, Giannatos 1, Levantis

Defeat without consequences with Panathinaikos won 17-15 the holder of the title Jug Dubrovnikin his last match for the 6th qualifying group of the Euro Cup water polo, hosted in Eze-en-Provence, France. Dimitris Mazi’s team, which had secured qualification to the group stage since yesterday (28/9), fought with all its strength against the very strong Croatians of the eight European trophies, but “bent” in the last period and took second place position of the group. Despite the absence of the suspended Nikos Papasifakis and the dismissal of Marios Hatzigoulas with three penalties, already in the first period, Panathinaikos appeared extremely competitive, with Papanikolaou dominating the 2m. and Viktor Rasovic to be the “tip of the spear” with six goals. Although they conceded some easy goals against, the “greens” managed to take a two-goal lead (4-2, 7-5, 8-6, 10-8) and lead 12-11 in the last eight minutes, after a impressive third period, in which a total of twelve goals were scored (six each side). In the final, the experienced Jug was able to take the match with a 4-0 run, led by Croatian international Marko Zuvela (seven goals), and take the victory and first place in the group.

The eight minutes: 3-4, 2-2, 6-6, 6-3

The composition of Panathinaikos: Ristisevics, Portokalis, Nikolaidis, Papanikolaou 2, Georgaras 3, Albertis 1, Kourouvanis 2, Sgouridis, Hatzigoulas, Skliras, Agortsas 1, Rasovits 6, Asvetis.