Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Water Polo Women’s Team has completed all its preparations before the tournament in Croatia, where it will participate as the “first Turkish team to reach the Final 6 in the Challenger Cup”. Coach Evangelos Pateros said, “We analyzed our opponents very well and we are ready. “We want to return to Izmir with the cup,” he said.
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Water Polo Women’s Team, which crowned the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey with the title of “the first Turkish team to reach the Final 6 in the Challenger Cup”, begins its challenging series aiming for the cup. The Izmir team, known as “Republic Girls”, will face the host Zavk Mladost in the first match of the Final 6 to be played in Croatia on Friday, November 24 at 21.00. In their second match, the girls will play against Clube Fluvial Portuense from Portugal on Saturday, November 25 at 20.00, and their place in the rankings will be determined.
The team that finishes top of the group will compete with the first team of the other group for the championship, the teams that finish second will compete with the second group of the other group three to four times, and those who finish last will compete against the opponent in the last place of the other group five to six times. The other group includes Zenski VK Crvena Zvezda from Serbia, VK Jadran Split from Croatia and Sport Lisboa E Benfica from Portugal.
“We want to win the first international cup”
Stating that they had a very good preparation period for the Final 6, Coach Evangelos Pateros said, “We analyzed our opponents very well and we are ready. “We want to return to Izmir with the cup,” he said. Pateros added that he believes that the Final 6 series in Croatia will be easier than the qualifiers. Captain Kübra Kuş said, “We had an intense and good preparation period. We watched and analyzed our competitors. “We want to bring Izmir its first international cup in the history of water polo,” he said, while another player, Hanzade Dabba, claimed that they would return from Croatia with the best result.
Finished undefeated leader
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Youth and Sports Club, which participated in the European Cups for the first time in its history as the champion of the Water Polo Women’s 1st League, defeated Sport Lisboa Benfica from Portugal 19-10 in the Challenger Cup qualifying series hosted by Strakonice, Czech Republic. They beat Jarfalla from Sweden 21-3 and the host AJF Strakonice 24-11 in their last match, finishing the group undefeated as the leader and buying their ticket to the Final 6.
Source: Ray Haber