U17 Girls reach qualification standard for Baku
English water polo players have helped the Great Britain Under-17 Girls Water Polo team reach the qualification standard required for the inaugural European Games in Baku.
The team, who were selected from the England Talent programme and include players from across the UK, won their final qualification match against Switzerland 30-0 (5-0, 4-0, 11-0, 10-0) to finish second in Group A on goal difference behind France.
Coached by Nick Buller, the team opened their campaign in Nice with a commanding 26-3 (7-1, 7-1, 4-0, 8-1) win against Portugal. This was followed by an 8-8 (3-4, 1-0, 4-2, 0-2) draw against the Czech Republic and a narrow 13-12 (2 - 2, 4 - 2, 2 - 3, 5 - 5) defeat to France.
Meanwhile the GB U17 Boys just missed out following a dramatic 7-6 (3-2, 1-3, 1-2, 1-0) loss to Malta in their final game.
The tournament was their first international competition playing together and after losing out to a strong German side 19-7 (5 - 2, 2 - 2, 8 - 3, 4 - 0) in the opening match, they secured a strong 53-0 (16-0, 14-0, 11-0, 12-0) win against Latvia and 12-1 (2 - 0, 1 - 0, 4 - 1, 5 - 0) victory over Switzerland.
