On July 14, the European women’s Water Polo championship starts in Barcelona. The Russian team will start the tournament with a match against the Turkish team. Also at the group stage Alexander Gaidukov’s team will play with Serbia (July 15), Germany (July 17), Hungary (July 19) and Spain (July 21). To enter the quarterfinals they need to take at least the fourth place, not lower.
The Russian Water Polo team went to the Catalan capital in the following composition: goalkeepers – Anna Karnaukh and Anastasia Verkhoglyadova, fielder players – Anna Timofeyeva, Anastasia Simanovich, Maria Borisova, Veronika Vakhitova, Natalya Chursina, Alena Serjantova, Ekaterina Prokofyeva, Evgenia Ivanova, Daria Ryzhkova, Elvina Karimova and Olga Gorbunova.
Alexander Gaidukov included in the application the same 13 athletes who took third place in the World League in June. While eight people (Karnaukh, Timofeyeva, Simonovich, Borisova, Prokofieva, Ivanova, Karimova, Gorbunova) are going to Barcelona in the status of the 2016 Olympic Games bronze winners.
After the successful performance in the World League Superfinal, the head coach of the Russian team noted in an interview that his updated team will try to achieve the maximum result at the European Championship. “In Europe, there are now six teams of approximately equal strength. It all depends on who will be better prepared and motivated”, — said Alexander Gaidukov then.
The Russian women’s team won three European Championships in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
