Greece overpower Italy in preliminary round, Group B: Day three – European Water Polo Championships
Greece’s national squad overpowered Italy in their initial Women’s water polo qualifying match of Group ‘B’ on day three of the 2012 European Water Polo Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands on Wednesday, January 18 at the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swim Stadium.
Both teams demonstrated their scintillating efforts to claim victory in their opening match of the tournament, where the Greek players remained lucky by just one goal and grabbed victory of the game with a 10-9.
The match was pretty tough in the first quarter, where both teams scored two goals. The first goal of the game was scored by Italy’s Simona Abbate in the initial two minutes. On the other side, Greece responded by accomplishing two goals and ascended on the points table, but their effort was balanced by Aleksandra Cotti of Italy, who scored second goal for her team.
The second quarter saw Greek players serving notice of their talent as they triumphed with two goals and hampered all efforts of their challenging team. Italian squad failed to supplement their score in round two and the score remained 4-2 after the first half.
The battle continued in third quarter, where the competition got stiffer. Italian team elevated their efforts and notched up three goals in third round. Their struggle was levelled by the Greek squad that did not back down and added three goals to their points table. The score went up to 7-5 after the third round.
Subsequently, the fourth round was very conclusive, where the Italian team made no mistake and scored four goals. On the other hand, Greek squad achieved three goals in the final round and succeeded in overwhelming Italy’s effort by a margin of just one goal.
The crowd acknowledged heart-felt efforts of both teams that put together a great show in their initial match. Stavroula Antonakou of Greece was declared player of the game as she contributed three goals in the 32-minute game.
In addition, Greece is now scheduled to play against Germany in their second bout of the tournament on Friday, January 20. Furthermore, the championship will conclude on January 29 after the completion of all matches.
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