The inaugural LEN European Women’s U20 Water Polo Championships, held in Naples, Italy, saw the British Gas team finish in seventh position after facing some of Europe’s best teams.

After coming out of the group stage as runners-up the team defeated France 19-8 for a place in the quarter finals where they faced strong opposition from Russia.

The Brits were dominated by their Russian opponents from the start as they went down two goals in the first two minutes with the first quarter ending 6-3 in Russia’s favour. At this point the British defence line-up changed with Jade Smith taking her position in goal for Robyn Nicholls.

Russia took the game away in the third quarter by scoring eight goals to Britain’s two. Despite a strong come-back from the British Gas team in the last eight minutes, the whistle blew for a 24-12 victory to the Russians.

With this defeat the British Gas team were out of medal contention and relegated to play for classification positions five through eight.

Coming up against Spain in their next match the team played well and stayed with their Spanish opponents for the first half, ending level on 5-5. Spain played a better third quarter than the British Gas squad and were able to take an 8-6 lead proving too much for the team to come back from.

The British Gas team found themselves in the 7th-8th position play-off against Serbia on the final day of the competition, a match that turned out to be Britain’s closest.

Level at 9-9 when the final whistle blew, the match went into extra time where each team scored a further goal taking the score to 10-10. A penalty shoot-out was necessary to determine the winner and the British Gas team were able to snatch victory with three goals to Serbia’s two, earning the British Gas team seventh position overall for the tournament.

Great Britain’s quarter final opponents, Russia, went on to claim the gold medal after a 14-12 victory over home side Italy.

-ENDS-

The British Gas Junior Women’s Water Polo team consists of:
Robyn Nicholls
Jade Smith
Rebecca Benson
Francesca Clayton
Rachel Drabble
Rebecca Kershaw
Victoria Bowen
Lisa Gibson
Hazel Musgrove
Emma Bartlett
Siobhan Hoy
Jennifer Myo
Claire Nixon

For full results please CLICK HERE

For further details contact Lauren Sanderson, British Swimming Media Assistant, on 01509 632236 or email lauren.sanderson@swimming.org.

About British Swimming
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 (ASA), Scotland (Scottish ASA) and Wales. (Welsh ASA)  British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

About British Gas
British Gas, the biggest energy supplier in the country, has the lowest carbon intensity of any of the major UK energy suppliers in terms of tonnes of CO2 emitted per megawatt hour of electricity supplied to customers.  The company is one of the biggest investors in renewable power generation, principally offshore wind. Its recently completed Lynn and Inner Dowsing development, off the Lincolnshire coast, is the UK's largest offshore wind development. British Gas is committed to energy efficiency.  Our Energy Savers Report provides free expert advice on how you can cut energy use in the home and, in turn, save money.  So far, the report has shown over 2 million people how they could make an average saving of £175 a year.  To complete a report go to www.britishgas.co.uk/energy-efficiency/energy-savers-report

About Speedo®
The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations. Supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps, Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE, SPEEDO ENDURANCE, FLIPTURNS, FASTSKINFSII, SPEEDO BIOFUSE, SWYM and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.

 

The British Gas Men’s Water Polo team were unable to overcome their Turkish opponents in the semi-final of the LEN European B Championships today.

After winning four out of their five group stage matches, and finishing top of their group, the team were confident going in but never got the opportunity to play at their best.

Right from the start they were unable to play their own game and after a number of decisions going against them they couldn’t get back into the match, with the first half ending 7-4 in favour of Turkey.

With Rob Parker unable to take any further part in the match due to three exclusions, much of Britain’s attacking play was stopped prematurely, and conceding six goals to their own one in the third quarter left them with too much work to do.

Eventually going down 15-6 to Turkey the team were disappointed with the result.

Assistant Team Manager, Joanna Wray, said after the game, “They didn’t play a great match but a lot of decisions went against them. We’re all so gutted, but we’ve got to pick ourselves up and focus on tomorrow and hopefully we’ll come away with a medal.”

The team will now play in the bronze medal match against the Netherlands. Having already beaten them in the group stage they will be looking for a similar performance if they want to come away with the win.

-ENDS-

To visit the official website please CLICK HERE

The British Gas team consists of:

Craig Figes
Adam Scholefield
Robert Parker
Scott Carpenter
Sean King
Jack Waller
Sean Ryder
Michael Bourne
Alexander Parsonage
Glen Robinson
Jake Vincent
Edward Scott
Matthew Holland

For more information please contact the ASA/British Swimming Media Assistant, Lauren Sanderson on 07795 251917 or email lauren.sanderson@swimming.org

About British Swimming

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 (ASA), Scotland (Scottish ASA) and Wales. (Welsh ASA)  British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

About British Gas

British Gas, the biggest energy supplier in the country, has the lowest carbon intensity of any of the major UK energy suppliers in terms of tonnes of CO2 emitted per megawatt hour of electricity supplied to customers.  The company is one of the biggest investors in renewable power generation, principally offshore wind. Its recently completed Lynn and Inner Dowsing development, off the Lincolnshire coast, is the UK's largest offshore wind development. British Gas is committed to energy efficiency.  Our Energy Savers Report provides free expert advice on how you can cut energy use in the home and, in turn, save money.  So far, the report has shown over 2 million people how they could make an average saving of £175 a year.  To complete a report go to www.britishgas.co.uk/energy-efficiency/energy-savers-report 

About Speedo®

The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations. Supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps, Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE, SPEEDO ENDURANCE, FLIPTURNS, FASTSKINFSII, SPEEDO BIOFUSE, SWYM and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide.