Great Britain beat Serbia on penalties to finish ninth at the LEN European Youth Water Polo Women’s Championships in Chania (Greece).

A young British squad of players aged 18 and under progressed from a tough group draw to win their final two matches on penalties and finish top of the 9-15 place play-offs.

Britain gave a good show against European big guns Greece and Hungary in the group stages to stay within 10 points of their rivals. Despite losing to 12-3 to Greece and 13-3 to Hungary, their result was enough to qualify them for a top nine position in the field of 15.

Up against the Czech Republic in the next round Britain pulled back a three point deficit at half time with a strong final quarter, levelling the score at 10-10. With no clear leader after extra time, a fearless effort in the penalty shoot-out saw Britain come out on top 13-11.

The team faced an almost identical fate in their final match of the tournament against Serbia. This time leading by three after the third period they let the opposition back in the game in the final quarter, letting the Serbs score three times unanswered.

Still level after extra time Britain were back on form in the penalty shoot-out scoring three goals to Serbia’s one, leaving the final score at 14-12.

British Water Polo National Performance Director Nick Hume was pleased with the girls’ performance and expects to see marked improvements from the team ahead of next year’s tournament.

“The team put in some strong performances in Greece and have started to close the gap with the top teams compared to previous years,” he said. “A top eight finish wasn’t realistic so to finish the best of the rest, effectively winning the second half of the tournament, is a great result.

“We’re not so far off the top countries now and we’re certainly showing signs of improvement but we’re a long way from the final product.

“Over the next season many of the players will be moving to Manchester to train with head coach Szilveszter Fekete so the level is set to improve remarkably. This group of girls will still be together for next year’s tournament and it will be interesting to see how far they’ve come.”

Russia were named European Championships with a 15-14 victory over Italy after penalties while Spain beat Holland 7-6 for bronze.

Results:
Great Britain v Greece, 3-12 (0:4, 1:3, 2:3, 0:2)
Hungary v Great Britain, 13-3 (4:1, 2:0, 5:2, 2:0)
Czech Republic v Great Britain, 11-13 (after extra time) (3:1, 3:2, 3:3, 1:4)
Serbia v Great Britain, 12-14 (after extra time) (2:3, 3:2, 2:5, 3:0 / ET 1:0, 0:1 / Pen 1:3)

The British squad is as follows:
Robyn Nicholls (City of Manchester WPC) 
Lindsey Johnston (Harrogate & Ripon WPC) 
Dominique Gale (South Derbyshire WPC)
Victoria Bowen (Grantham Kings WPC) 
Jennifer Myo (Carmarthen WPC) 
Rachel Drabble (Harrogate & Ripon WPC)
Francesca Clayton (Catterick WPC) 
Ita Barton-Kettleborough (City of Manchester WPC) 
Hazel Musgrove (Liverpool)
Rebecca Benson (Lancaster City) 
Rebecca Kershaw (Lancaster City) 
Siobhan Hoy (City of Manchester WPC)
Lisa Gibson (City of Manchester WPC)

-ENDS-

For more information contact British Swimming media officer Amanda Overend on 01509 632238, 07876 652 318 or email amanda.overend@swimming.org

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association)  British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
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