The Hungarian men’s water polo team defeated Japan 16-11 in the second group match at the Tokyo Olympics.
Evaluating the performance of the Hungarian team with one win and one defeat, the Olympic water polo champion, world and European water polo champion, former federal captain of the women’s national team, told InfoRádió that the quarter-finals will be a really important task, and at the same time the Hungarian team will get better and better.
“In any case, the first two quarters in front of the Japanese did not raise the confidence of the Hungarian players in themselves in the face of the defeat suffered by the Greeks,” he said head-on in the first two quarters. But he prefers to focus on the fact that the Japanese came up with a really impressive production against the Hungarians.
“This game can be thought differently, played, enjoyed and entertained and we appreciate it”
He added, adding that physical superiority and tactical intelligence decided the match later.
Group matches, he emphasized, should be seen as a practice match, not a sharp betting match that “points nowhere”.
He highlighted the creativity of the Hungarian attackers against the Japanese, but he is still “far from the top” – suggesting there are three more matches in the group, first against South Africa (Thursday), which may show less resistance from Japan. But then more than that, the US and Italy will also have to play before the quarter-finals.
Opening photo: MTI / Tamás Kovács
