The FINA Women's Water Polo World League European preliminaries were completed last night as Italy, Spain and Russia qualified for the World League Super Final taking place next month in Shanghai, China, from June 7-12.
With 13 points, Group A's Italy beat the Netherlands 15-10 (5-2, 3-2, 5-1, 2-5) in Bari (ITA), making them jump to the top of the group. With 4 wins and 2 losses the same as Russia in Group B, the Netherlands missed on the opportunity to qualify for the Super Final due to a lesser goal average.
Still in Group A, the Hungarians, who have won 3 games since the start of the season, defeated France 5-1 (3-0,0-0,0-0,2-1) in the Magyar capital.
After round 6, Spain now tops Group B with 14 points, despite losing their last game to Russia 14-13 (3-3, 3-4, 2-4, 6-2) in Ruza (RUS). The Russians still managed to get the last available spot to the Super Final due to the goal average rule which applies in case of same-win same-loss record.
Finally, Greece crushed Germany 23-5 (4-3, 8-8, 6-2, 5-0), who was playing at home.
Final rankings (after round 6):
GROUP A: ITA 13pts (4W, 1Lp, 1L); NED 12pts (4W, 2L); HUN 11pts (3W, 1Wp, 2L); FRA 0pt (6L)
GROUP B: ESP 14pts (4W, 1Wp, 1L); RUS 12pts (4W, 2L); GRE 10pts (3W, 1Lp, L2); GER 0pt (6L)
A Men's round 6 game from the European preliminaries also took place on May 3: TUR-RUS 5-13