World League: Hungary survives Slovakia

The fifth day of the men's World League Europe prelims started off with a pair of matches in group A where Greece won a high-scoring battle with Romania in Bucharest 12-18 to remain in 2nd place in the group. Ioannis Fountoulis was unstoppable scoring a game-high 8 goals. Current 4th ranked Slovakia were close to a huge upset as Hungary just survived the match-up in Kosice winning 12-13. Even in the fourth quarter the home team pulled back to trailing just a single goal on several occasions but could not made the final jump. On four consecutive opportunities Hungary found the answer and critical goals by Marton Vamos, Norbert Madaras, Ferenc Salamon and Denes Varga eventually sealed the deal. The consolation goal by centre-forward Lukas Seman came to late as Slovakia had to settle for the close defeat. Later on Tuesday reigning champions Serbia overcame a difficult first half in Spain where the home team put up quite a fight but saw Serbia walking away in the second half with a 9-15 final score as a result. In group C Montenegro added three points to their total beating France in Budva 13-7. Russia remained in 2nd place in group B behind Serbia after a solid 7-11 win in Stuttgart, Germany on Tuesday. The Russians, still tied at half-time 4-4, grabbed control in the third quarter and secured their victory in the final term for their 3rd win in 4 games. In the final result of the day Italy made no mistake in Turkey rolling past the home team in a one-sided encounter 3-16 to take 2nd place in group C. Giacomo Bini and Stefano Luongo led all scorers with 3 each. The Italians are back in action already on Thursday in a day 6 match-up with France, followed by Turkey hosting Croatia on Friday.

The ten-round European tournament will continue running through April 2015. The men’s Intercontinental Tournament kicks off March 30th in Corona del Mar (USA) with the participation of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Kazakhstan and USA. The men’s Super Final will take place in Bergamo (ITA) from June 23-28, 2015 with eight teams qualified from the preliminaries. FINA Men's World League 2014-2015
Europe preliminary round

Day 5 - Tuesday 17 February, 2015

Romania vs. Greece 12-18 (2-3, 3-4, 4-7, 3-4) - in Bucharest, Romania

Slovakia vs. Hungary 12-13 (2-1, 2-3, 3-5, 5-4) - in Kosice, Slovakia

Spain vs. Serbia 9-15 (3-2, 2-2, 2-5, 2-6) - in Madrid, Spain

Montenegro vs. France 13-7 (1-2, 5-2, 3-2, 4-1) - in Budva, Montenegro

Germany vs. Russia 7-11 (1-2, 3-2, 1-3, 2-4) - in Stuttgart, Germany

Turkey vs. Italy 3-16 (1-3, 0-4, 1-5, 1-4) - in Istanbul, Turkey

The current standings are now as follows:

Group A

1. Hungary 4 - 12 pts
2. Greece 4 - 9
3. Romania 4 - 2
4. Slovakia 4 - 1

Group B

1. Serbia 4 - 12 pts
2. Russia 4 - 9
3. Spain 4 - 3
4. Germany 4 - 0

Group C

1. Croatia 4 - 12 pts
2. Italy 4 - 8
3. Montenegro 4 - 7
4. Turkey 4 - 3
5. France 4 - 0

Day 6

Thursday, 19 February, 2015

20.00: Italy vs. France (in Lodi, Italy)

Friday, 20 February, 2015

21.00: Turkey vs. Croatia (in Istanbul, Turkey)
N.b.: times mentioned are local time.