Belgrade 2016 draw !!

Belgrade 2016 qualification gets underway

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Slovakia, Russia, Netherlands, Germany win groups

 By: Tim Hartog  National Teams, European Championships, Qualification

The men's teams of Slovakia, Russia, the Netherlands and Germany ended up winning the groups in round 1 of the qualification phase for the 2016 European Championships in Belgrade. In the 2-group women's tournament Greece and France topped their respective groups after 3 games this weekend. For the men it means both 2014 European championships participants Georgia and France had to settle for the 2nd place gaining 6 points while Russia and Germany marched also winning the key matches in group B and D respectively. In group C the conclusion of the action in the city of Utrecht came on Sunday afternoon as hosts the Netherlands managed to beat France, who were playing without captain Michaël Bodegas, 12-9 in front of a capacity crowd. The decision in group A was already made on Friday as Slovakia held off home team Georgia 10-11 to take the top spot. Next up is round 2, to be played between 9-11 October with a new draw to fill in these groups. The cumulative points gained by the teams over the 2 rounds will decide the 8 men's and 6 women's teams who will qualify for the 2016 Europeans out of the qualification phase.

Russia marches on in group B

 By: Tim Hartog  National Teams, European Championships, Qualification

The winners and losers of the round 1 weekend in the qualification phase of the 2016 European Championships became clear on day 2 of action across Europe on Saturday. After their big battle on Friday both Georgia and Slovakia made no mistake the following day and posted solid, comfortable wins on Saturday. In group B Russia dominates competition. After beating Poland 6-16 on Friday, Ukraine had no chance of coming even close to an upset as they suffer a 16-3 defeat to the favourite Russians where Konstantin Stepanyuk led all scorers with 5. Meanwhile in group C hosts Netherlands gained a pivotal win over Malta in the battle for at least 2nd place as they ended up victorious 19-11 in a high-scoring game. France had an easy one facing Latvia who were crushed for a 2nd straight time: 39-0. In group D Germany and hosts Turkey set up a big meeting for the top spot on Sunday after both winning their 2nd in a row. Lithuania suffered a 14-6 loss to Turkey followed by Germany rolling past Belarus 6-17. Elsewhere in the women's tournament Turkey had no trouble overcoming Switzerland in a one-sided contest (5-24) while group A hosts France rolled away from Portugal in the 2nd quarter only to stop at a convincing 18-7 final score. Group B will only be interesting for the 2nd spot. Greece dominates competition and downed Germany 3-16 on day 2 in Zagreb. Hosts Croatia topped Israel 12-7 to set up a head-to-head duel with the Germans for 2nd place on Sunday

Promo video European Waterpolo Championship Belgrade 2016

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Belgrade 2016 promises spectacle with announcing hosting venue

 By: Tim Hartog  National Teams, European Championships

The 2016 European championships promise to become a spectacle. On Thursday the organising committee, on the occasion of signing an agreement with the Tourist Organisation of Belgrade, confirmed their plans of hosting the championships, bigger than ever in terms of participating teams, in the big multi-sports Kombank Arena where two temporarily pools will be installed. Here competition with 12 women's and 16 men's teams will be played from 10-23 January, 2016. The competition draw for the 2016 European Championships was announced to be conducted next 18 October. The first of three qualification rounds for the men's tournament will be played on four location across Europe from 6-8 February. 

The Kombank Arena is an indoor arena, designed as a universal hall for sport, cultural events and other programs. With a total space that covers 48,000 square metres, and an official total capacity of 20,000 seats (for handball, volleyball, basketball and other events). Its cost was estimated at €70 million. Previous hosted sports events highlights include the 2005 European Basketball championships, 2005 men's European Volleyball championships, 2007 European table tennis and Judo championships and more recently the 2012 European men's Handball championships.

Belgrade 2016 Qualification draw

2016 European Championships qualification draw

 By: Tim Hartog  

With the draw of the first of two rounds of qualification tournaments for the 2016 European Championships held Friday, the road to 'Belgrade 2016' became visible for most of the participants after the draw as performed in Barcelona on the occasion of the 2014 European Supercup matches, to be played later that day. Both the men's and women's teams will play 2 round robin tournaments at different venues with a new draw to be held after this round 1. With the points achieved carried to round 2 the eventual top 2 sides of the cumulative rankings from each groups (8 teams total for the men, best 3 of 2 groups = 6 total for women) will make it to the final 2016 European Championships tournament, to be held early 2016 in Serbia's capital. The chances to reach the big stage is definitely better as for the first time the field of the European Championships will feature 16 teams among men and 12 among the women. Major absentees were the national teams of Great Britain whos financial difficulties held their senior national sides out of contention and, for the women, a possible second straight appearance at the major European stage. The tournament matches in round 1 are scheduled to take place early February with more details to be announced later.

European Water Polo Championships 2016
Qualification tournaments draw

MEN

Round I - to be played 6-8 February 2015

Group A (to be played in Georgia)
Georgia
Slovakia
Portugal
Switzerland

Group B (to be played in Poland)
Russia
Ukraine
Israel
Poland

Group C (to be played in the Netherlands)
France
Malta
Netherlands

Group D (to be played in Turkey)
Germany
Turkey
Belarus
Lithuania

Hosts in Round II (9-11 October, 2015): Russia, Israel, France, Malta.

Playing format:
• Two rounds of robin tournaments at different venues.
• New draw will be conducted after Round I, with new seeding based on the classification in Round I. Points achieved are carried to Round II. Teams of a group of three will have three points added.
• First two seeded sides of the cumulative rankings from each group (8 teams) will promote to the European Championships to be held in Belgrade (SRB) in 2016.

Women

Group A (to be played in France)
France
Portugal
Ukraine
Switzerland
Turkey

Group B (to be played in Croatia)
Greece
Germany
Israel
Croatia

Hosts in Round II (9-11 October, 2015): Germany, Portugal.

Playing format:
• Two rounds of robin tournaments at different venues.
• New draw will be conducted after Round I, with new seeding based on the classification in Round I. Points achieved are carried to Round II.
• First three seeded sides of the cumulative rankings from both groups (6 teams) will promote to the European Championships to be held in Belgrade (SRB) in 2016.