It has been a very busy second day of the 2021 ECA Canoe Polo European Championships in Catania. A total of 68 matches in senior men’s and women’s, and U21 men’s and women’s divisions were played today. The semifinalists in women’s U21 division are Italy, Germany, France and Great Britain.
On Saturday the first medals of the 2021 ECA Canoe Polo European Championships will be awarded to the best teams in U21 age groups. While U21 men still have to play a couple of matches in the morning, that will give a definitive answer who will be fighting for the medals and which teams for placements between 5th and 8th place, we already have the teams who qualified to the semifinals in women’s U21 division.
The teams who have a chance of winning a medal in women’s U21 division are the teams who were among the favourites before the championships. One semifinal match will be between France and Great Britain and the second between Germany and Italy. The winners of each semifinal match will then advance to the final and have a chance to claim the European Champion title, while the losers will fight for the bronze medal. Spain and Netherlands will play for fifth and sixth place.
While the medals in U21 age groups will be awarded tomorrow, the decisive matches in senior men’s and women’s division will be played on Sunday. In today’s matches of senior men’s division the hosts - Italy - produced two wins against Lithuania and Switzerland. Poland also had a good day with two wins against Austria and a tie with Portugal. Great Britain had an impressive performance against Lithuania (10 -3), won against Sweden (3 – 1) and tied with Spain (4 – 4). France also won twice against Portugal and Russia, as well as Germany who defeated Sweden and Spain. Portugal and Lithuania also celebrated wins today.
It was a good day for French senior women’s team. First they tied with Switzerland (1 – 1), but had two wins in the following matches against Spain and Italy. To conclude the day Franco also tied with Germany. Germany won against Netherlands twice today and played 2 – 1 with hosting team Italy. Italians had a good scoring day with a win against Denmark (6 – 2) and Poland (7 - 4). Spain played twice against Poland and won on both occasions (5 – 4, 8 – 2), but was defeated in a match with Netherlands. Netherlands won against Poland, Great Britain against Sweden, but lost against Denmark. Switzerland won in a match with Sweden 3 – 1.
On Saturday semifinals, finals and final placement matches in U21 divisions will be in a spotlight.
Website: https://canoepolocatania2021.it/
Results: https://results.canoepolocatania2021.it/en
Photo: Hans Janssen
8.10.2021
