Index – Sports – Women's water polo team achieves first win in Paris

After losing their opening round match to the Netherlands, the Hungarian women's water polo team managed to improve against Canada on Monday of the Olympic tournament. The last time the two teams faced each other was at the World Cup last year in a betting match, and then our team came out on top only in a close battle after the first half 5-3. For 11-10 On North America.

We had to wait a minute and a half to get the first shot, after a central pass. Rebecca Parks Found the Canadian target (1-0). In the next action, the crossbar helped us twice, the last one being the most dramatic, as the away team captain, Emma Wright, tried to lift Magyari Alda from the right, which she succeeded in, but the ball did not fall in the goal. A sharp enough arc from her point of view… The Canadian missed opportunity was quickly punished, the third minute had barely begun, Parks He scored among the top scorers for the second time. (2-0).

Although three-quarters of the seats around the main pool of the aquatics centre, which can hold 5,000 spectators in its Olympic state, found their owners, on the other side of the seats you could clearly hear Attila Mihok trying to give instructions to the players. The team from the outside while defending. And so far, the Canadians have not found a way around this defence. Not so Rita from KestleyOn him: In the fifth minute, his shot fell into the upper left corner. (3-0)The third period was not completed without goals, with more than two minutes remaining in the match. Hayley McKelvey Beautifying (3-1)The last hit of the half was also scored by our team, Keszthelyi. this time It was effective from a distance of five meters. (4-1).

Incidentally, one of the biggest oddities of the Paris Polo Championship is that the match is constantly commented on in both English and French. Which, apart from the names of the scorers and the ejected, in my experience, is not common in any water polo match in the world. Apparently, the French thought that many spectators who are not used to seeing the jersey might get lost in the matches, and that the commentary could help them or make the match more enjoyable. But what is even stranger is when they try to encourage support for this or that camp…

After the short break, the game continued with another improvement from Canada, as Kindred Paul pulled the ball from close range to the left side of the goal. (4-2)This time, our attacking performance was a bit weak, and the crossbar also worked against us (however, let's not be hypocritical: before that, in the first half, part of the goalpost helped us three times in total). He ended the four-minute silence. Greta Gorrisati A perfect shot went to the right side of the goal from a corner kick. (5-2). My gorisati Shortly after, he also scored in equal numbers, taking the Hungarian lead to four goals for the first time in the match. (6-2)Two and a half minutes before the end of the quarter in a quick change of goal I saw cosmetic surgery Vanda Valley Recorded among the scorers – for the first time in this match (7-3)In the last minute, we had a chance to make it 8-3, but Dora Lemaitre's shot was blocked by Jessica Goodrow. Two seconds before the break McKelvey They punished us for the missed jump, 7-4keeping Canada on the back foot at the same time.

At the beginning of the third quarter, it was thanks to the exploits of the Magyari that Canada could not get close. Although our team tried all sorts of dribbles in vain, the passes and easy fouls increased at a distance of 10-12 meters from the opponent's goal. The Swedish pin of Parks was screaming for a goal, but the crossbar helped Godreau again. More than four minutes of the quarter passed without a goal, while little by little the referee's decisions turned against us. First, we complained in vain about a penalty for pressing Laimitter, then Brigitta Horvath was sent off with a particularly light whistle on the counter. Although there were no more controversial wrestling-like scenes for us, a shot from five meters from the center was not enough, and just over a minute before the end of the first half, Canada received a shot from Laimitter. Axel Crever He scored to close out his team's two-goal lead. (7-5). The nightmare of Sunday's Hungarian-French men's match had almost begun, as our national team, after an excellent start, managed to bring the manager back into the game, when Cristina Garda hit a dangerous free throw. From Kestelli Hit it into the net (enough to get it in, anyway, so that the goalkeeper can't react anymore), 8 to 5.

We started the last quarter much more actively, Protect This time he vowed to finish it exactly, and then Valley And increased the difference to five goals. This basically decided the match, even though there were still six minutes remaining. (10-5)At first, the only question was: by what margin would we be able to win the match. pee For beauty My gorisati Garda answered from his ball in the wind. (11-6).And it wasn't over yet, as Dorothea Szilagyi converted a Gorisati cross into a goal, and Paul scored. (12-6). last hit I saw They were brought together, two and a half minutes before the end of the match. 12-7 The final result.

Keszthelyi and Gurisatti each scored three goals for us, while Magyari achieved a defensive efficiency of exactly 50 percent (7/14).

We've arrived – claim the heroes

“Every game is a new beginning, and we proved it this time: we went into the pool and we completely closed out what happened against the Dutch,” Greta Jurissati began her assessment in the interview area. – There were surprises in today's games too, and from the first minute we tried to prevent something similar from happening to us. We played Canada in the training camp and that game was a very important experience, and we couldn't let them get into the game at the beginning. “Fortunately we did that today, and after that – except for one or two short periods – we defended very well, so it seems we deserved to win by that margin,” added the player who scored three goals.

“We were sure it wouldn’t be an easy game, we had to do our best in the training camp to beat them in the last quarter,” said Rita Kestele-Nagy, who also scored three goals against Canada. “Today’s game we played at a much higher temperature and didn’t let them get that hot. We said that before the game in the locker room, we didn’t even want to let the paper model with the quotes fall. We won a victory that is important to be happy about, even though there were mistakes, so there are lessons to be learned. We gave Canada a lot of easy goals that could have been avoided. But that’s the beauty of water polo: now we have four days until the next game, we can use this time to improve even more.”

He pointed out that he had not forgotten the match he lost to China in the group stage of the Olympics three years ago, but he did not believe that anything could be learned from that match before the current encounter.

Dora Leimitter spoke about how she felt Monday's match was the one where our national team really got to these Olympic Games. Compared to the rough game against the Dutch, the team worked much more smoothly.

“It's true, it's different when you lead with confidence. We need the freedom to highlight the extras we have, I'm thinking here, for example, of our goal at the end of the third half, when Garda gave the ball away to Kesteli. Such solutions are also necessary to perform well at the Olympic Games, he added.

In four days, China awaits us, who pressed them for three quarters, and even advanced for a long period against the Netherlands. Kesteli while They conclude the group stage against Australia on August 4.

Olympia, Paris 2024

Women's Water Polo, Group 1, Round 2
Hungary-Canada 12-7 (4-1, 3-3, 1-1, 4-2)

Group standings: 1. Netherlands 4 points (25-19), 2. Hungary 2 (20-17), 3. Australia 2 (7-5, one match), 4. Canada 0 (7-12), 5. China 0 (16-22).

previously
Hungary-Netherlands 8-10 (2-4, 1-0, 3-2, 2-4)

Additional program for the Hungarian national team:

• August 2, 2005: China – Hungary
• August 4, 2pm: Hungary-Australia

(Cover Photo: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters )

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