Russia chasing gold in World Junior Women's Water Polo Championship

Sixteen teams, with Russia willing to successfully defend the title achieved in 2017 in Volos (GRE), will compete in Funchal (POR) between September 9-15, on the occasion of the FINA World Junior Women's Water Polo Championship.

The capital of Madeira Island will receive young players from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Africa and the United States, so the five continents will be represented in a tournament that will be held at the Complexo de Piscinas Olímpicas do Funchal. The venue is owned by Funchal Regional Government and was built in 2004. The complex is set over an impressive five floors and includes an Olympic sized competition pool, a diving pool and a 25 meters pool, with a spectator tribune with 900 seats.

The sixteen national teams will be divided into four groups of four teams.

In Group A, Hungary, the United States, Australia and Japan will depart. Brazil, the Netherlands, Kazakhstan and Spain will begin from Group B. The current champion, Russia, coincides with the host Portugal, South Africa and Italy in Group C while Group D is completed by Greece, Canada, New Zealand and China.

All of them will fight to occupy one of the three places in the honor roll of this World Championship, after Russia (gold), Greece (silver) and the Netherlands (bronze) topped the ranking in the 2017 edition.

This tournament takes place two months after the celebration in Gwangju (KOR) of the 18th FINA World Championships, in which the United States team won in women's category.

Now the young female promises of water polo take over from the great stars of the discipline on an event that guarantees great emotions on Funchal. It was erected to city on 21st August of 1508 on the south coast of Madeira in beautiful bay washed by the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by green mountains and deep valleys.