Miki Oca's players begin the defense of the European Championship with solidity
MADRID, 5 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish women's water polo team beat France this Friday (17-8) in the premiere of the European Championship in Eindhoven (Netherlands), a competition in which it defends a double crown, in a duel in which it showed good defensive solidity and a success 'in crescendo' to expand and reinforce their dominance over the galas.
The Spanish, champions of the European Championships in Budapest 2020 and Split 2022, are looking for a third consecutive title in Eindhoven and, to begin with, they defeated France without problems, without having to force the machine and with a very good scoring rotation to leave the 0-1 initial.
After the match, Miki Oca highlighted the good defense made, with Martina Terré solid in goal – she started the match with 4/5 effectiveness, stopping everything except the 0-1 penalty for France – and with the 'Water Warriors' ' very aware of the importance of starting the tournament with a good performance, showing the reason for their favoritism,
Against France, the last duels are synonymous with victory and work well done. In the last European Championship in Split the Spanish won 16-4 and, in the last and most recent World Cup in Fukuoka, the result was 16-9. This time, one more goal for Spain and one less for France, who had their top scorer in Orsolya Hertzka, with 3 goals.
In Spain, the best scorer was Paula Crespí, with 3 goals between the first and second quarter, but up to six more players scored 2 goals. Choral performance for a Spain that won the 4 partials, that was good in superiorities for and against and that did not hesitate at any time.
In addition, a pair of sisters were seen again taming the water for Spain. Annie Espar can no longer celebrate goals and victories with Clara Espar, but now Elena and Ariadna Ruiz are the sisters who take over this curious relief.
As an anecdote, this first match of the European Women's Water Polo Championship in Eindhoven produced the first two goals for the young player Isabel Piralkova in a major international tournament. Good debut for Spain, which opens its title defense in the best possible way and gains confidence ahead of the following matches against Israel and Italy, which defeated the Hebrews 11-20 in the other Group B match.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: SPAIN, 17 – FRANCE, 8 (8-3, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
SPAIN: Terre [p]Ramos [p]; A. Ruiz (2), Espar (1), Ortiz (2), Pérez, Crespí (3), E. Ruiz (2), Piralkova (2), Forca (2), Camús, García (1), Leitón ( 2).
FRANCE: Rycraw [p]Martineaud-Perret [p]; Andres, Hardy (1), Bouloukbachi (1), Guillet, Hertzka (3), Dhalluin (2), Battu, Vernoux (1), Radosavljevic, Raspo, Daule.
–PARTIALS: 4-1, 4-2, 4-3 and 5-2.
–ARBITRATOR: Radoslaw Koryzna (POL) and Philip Uhlig (ALE).
–PABELLÓN: Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium (Eindhoven).