Water polo at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification

The 2012 Women's Water Polo Olympic Qualification Tournament was held at the Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi in Trieste, Italy, from 15 to 22 April 2012.

Participants edit

There were 12 places originally allocated to continental associations in the tournament not already directly qualified to the Olympics – 5 from Europe, 3 from the Americas, 2 from Asia, 1 from Africa, and 1 from Oceania.[1]

Italy qualified from Europe as host country. Greece, Hungary, Russia and Spain qualified from the 2012 European Water Polo Championships and confirmed their attendance at the tournament. Canada, Brazil and Cuba qualified from the 2011 Pan American Games, Canada and Brazil confirmed their attendance, but Cuba declined to participate and no other teams from the 2011 Pan American Games volunteered to take their place. Kazakhstan and Japan qualified from the 2012 Asian Water Polo Championship, Kazakhstan confirmed their attendance, but Japan declined to participate and there were no other nations entered in the 2012 Asian Water Polo Championship to take their place. There was an article written by a FINA press correspondent in Japan showing confusion around the qualification procedure from the Asian Championship, as the article states that the winners of the Asian Championship had advanced to this qualification tournament (in fact, they qualified directly for the Olympics) and that Japan could no longer get to the Olympics (in fact, according to FINA By-Laws, they were eligible for this tournament, and they did not apply).[2]

No teams from Africa or Oceania applied to participate in the qualification tournament. The next highest placed teams from the other continents were invited to take the four available places (one each from the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania), in the following rotation:[1]

As there were no remaining American, Asian, Oceanic, nor African teams making themselves available for selection, the available places were offered to the teams in the 2012 European Water Polo Championships that were not already either qualified for the Olympics or already in this tournament. Only the Netherlands accepted. The qualification tournament, designed as a 12-team tournament, therefore had only 9 entries.

Europe How qualified
  Italy Host country (1st, 2012 European Water Polo Championships)
  Greece 2nd, 2012 European Water Polo Championships
  Hungary 3rd, 2012 European Water Polo Championships
  Russia 4th, 2012 European Water Polo Championships
  Spain 5th, 2012 European Water Polo Championships
  Netherlands[3] 6th, 2012 European Water Polo Championships
Americas
  Canada 2nd, 2011 Pan American Games
  Brazil 3rd, 2011 Pan American Games
Asia
  Kazakhstan 2nd, 2012 Asian Water Polo Championship
Africa
No entries
Oceania
No entries

Draw edit

The draw took place on 19 February 2012 at 12:00 at the Crowne Plaza, London Docklands. There were originally to be six teams in each preliminary round group. However, with the low number of entries for this tournament, there was one group of four teams and one group of five teams. Each team was taken from a draw line of two teams based on their results, first in the last World Championships, then by their last continental championships.[1]

Draw line Country Status Drawn into group Country Status Drawn into group
Line 1   Greece 1st, 2011 World Championships B   Russia 3rd, 2011 World Championships A
Line 2   Italy 4th, 2011 World Championships A   Netherlands 7th, 2011 World Championships B
Line 3   Canada 8th, 2011 World Championships B   Hungary 9th, 2011 World Championships A
Line 4   Spain 11th, 2011 World Championships A   Kazakhstan 13th, 2011 World Championships B
Line 5   Brazil 14th, 2011 World Championships B

After being drawn into Group A and B, the teams drew numbers from 1 to 5 to determine the order of matches.

Group A Group B
1   Italy 1   Greece
2   Russia 2   Brazil
3   Hungary 3   Canada
4   Spain 4   Kazakhstan
5   Netherlands

Preliminary round edit

All times are local (UTC+2)

Group A edit

Team G W D L GF GA Diff Points
1.   Hungary 3 2 0 1 32 32 0 4
2.   Russia 3 2 0 1 39 37 +2 4
3.   Spain 3 1 0 2 30 31 -1 2
4.   Italy 3 1 0 2 33 34 -1 2
17 April 2012
18:40
Report Russia   12–13   Hungary Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Littlejohn (GBR), Stavridis (GRE)
Score by quarters: 2-3, 3-3, 4-4, 3-3

17 April 2012
20:00
Report Italy   9–10   Spain Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Matache (ROU), Williams (NZL)
Score by quarters: 4-2, 2-2, 0-1, 3-5

18 April 2012
18:40
Report Russia   12–11   Spain Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Klopper (NED), Deslieres (CAN)
Score by quarters: 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-2

18 April 2012
20:00
Report Italy   11–9   Hungary Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Stavridis (GRE), Carvalho (BRA)
Score by quarters: 1-3, 4-2, 4-4, 2-0

19 April 2012
18:40
Report Hungary   10–9   Spain Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Williams (NZL), Deslieres (CAN)
Score by quarters: 2-0, 3-2, 2-5, 3-2

19 April 2012
20:00
Report Russia   15–13   Italy Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Matache (ROU), Carvalho (BRA)
Score by quarters: 3-4, 6-3, 4-4, 2-2

Group B edit

Team G W D L GF GA Diff Points
1.   Netherlands 4 3 1 0 62 28 +34 7
2.   Greece 4 3 0 1 55 27 +28 6
3.   Canada 4 2 1 1 39 29 +10 5
4.   Kazakhstan 4 0 1 3 26 53 -27 1
5.   Brazil 4 0 1 3 19 64 -45 1
15 April 2012
18:00
Report Canada   15–4   Kazakhstan Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Littlejohn (GBR), Teixido (ESP)
Score by quarters: 3-2, 3-2, 5-0, 4-0

15 April 2012
19:20
Report Brazil   4–23   Netherlands Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Williams (NZL), Cao (CHN)
Score by quarters: 1-6, 1-6, 1-4, 1-7

16 April 2012
17:30
Report Netherlands   11–11   Canada Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Bianchi (ITA), Matache (ROU)
Score by quarters: 2-3, 2-3, 3-1, 4-4

16 April 2012
18:50
Report Greece   23–4   Brazil Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Vogel (HUN), Krapivin (RUS)
Score by quarters: 7-1, 5-1, 6-1, 5-1

17 April 2012
16:00
Report Kazakhstan   7–15   Netherlands Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Cao (CHN), Vogel (HUN)
Score by quarters: 1-4, 3-6, 2-3, 1-2

17 April 2012
17:20
Report Canada   2–10   Greece Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Teixido (ESP), Bianchi (ITA)
Score by quarters: 0-2, 0-1, 1-2, 1-5

18 April 2012
16:00
Report Greece   16–8   Kazakhstan Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Cao (CHN), Krapivin (RUS)
Score by quarters: 4-3, 6-1, 5-2, 1-2

18 April 2012
17:20
Report Brazil   4–11   Canada Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Matache (ROU), Littlejohn (GBR)
Score by quarters: 1-2, 2-4, 0-3, 1-2

19 April 2012
16:00
Report Kazakhstan   7–7   Brazil Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Littlejohn (GBR), Vogel (HUN)
Score by quarters: 3-1, 1-2, 2-3, 1-1

19 April 2012
17:20
Report Greece   6–13   Netherlands Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Teixido (ESP), Bianchi (ITA)
Score by quarters: 2-3, 1-3, 1-4, 2-3

Final phase edit

All times are local (UTC+2)

Bracket
Quarterfinals 1st-4th semifinals Gold medal game
         
A1   Hungary 18
B4   Kazakhstan 5
A1   Hungary 8
A3   Spain 10
A3   Spain 9
B2   Greece 7
A3   Spain 9
A4   Italy 5
A2   Russia 7
B3   Canada 6
A2   Russia 13 Bronze medal game
A4   Italy 14
A4   Italy 7 A1   Hungary 13
B1   Netherlands 6 A2   Russia 18
5th-8th place bracket
5th-8th semifinals 5th place
      
B4   Kazakhstan 9
B2   Greece 21
B2   Greece 10
B1   Netherlands 11
B3   Canada 13
B1   Netherlands 16 7th place
B4   Kazakhstan 2
B3   Canada 17

Quarterfinal round edit

The winners in the quarterfinal round qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games water polo tournament.


20 April 2012
15:30
Report Hungary   18–5   Kazakhstan Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Williams (NZL), Klopper (NED)
Score by quarters: 6-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-2

20 April 2012
17:00
Report Russia   7–6   Canada Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Matache (ROU), Carvalho (BRA)
Score by quarters: 4-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1-3

20 April 2012
18:30
Report Spain   9–7   Greece Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Krapivin (RUS), Vogel (HUN)
Score by quarters: 1-0, 5-6, 2-1, 1-0

20 April 2012
20:00
Report Italy   7–6   Netherlands Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Stavridis (GRE), Teixido (ESP)
Score by quarters: 2-2, 3-3, 0-1, 2-0

Semifinal round edit

5th-8th classification semifinals edit

21 April 2012
16:00
Report Kazakhstan   9–21   Greece Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Vogel (HUN), Deslieres (CAN)
Score by quarters: 1-7, 4-4, 2-6, 2-4

21 April 2012
17:30
Report Canada   13–16   Netherlands Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Williams (NZL), Aimbetov (KAZ)
Score by quarters: 3-6, 3-4, 5-3, 2-3

1st-4th classification semifinals edit

21 April 2012
19:00
Report Hungary   8–10   Spain Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Bianchi (ITA), Cao (CHN)
Score by quarters: 0-2, 4-3, 2-3, 2-2

21 April 2012
20:30
Report Russia   13–14   Italy Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Littlejohn (GBR), Matache (ROU)
Score by quarters: 5-5, 2-3, 4-3, 2-3

Final round edit

7th-8th place edit

22 April 2012
08:30
Report Kazakhstan   2–17   Canada Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Cao (CHN), Klopper (NED)
Score by quarters: 0-5, 0-5, 1-2, 1-5

5th-6th place edit

22 April 2012
10:00
Report Greece   10–11   Netherlands Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Deslieres (CAN), Aimbetov (KAZ)
Score by quarters: 1-2, 2-4, 5-2, 1-1  OT: 1-2

Bronze medal game edit

22 April 2012
11:30
Report Hungary   13–18   Russia Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Bianchi (ITA), Teixido (ESP)
Score by quarters: 4-5, 4-5, 3-5, 2-3

Gold medal game edit

22 April 2012
13:00
Report Spain   9–5   Italy Polo Natatorio Bruno Bianchi, Trieste
Referees:
Carvalho (BRA), Williams (NZL)
Score by quarters: 2-1, 4-1, 1-3, 2-0

Final ranking edit

RANK TEAM
1.   Spain
2.   Italy
3.   Russia
4.   Hungary
5.   Netherlands
6.   Greece
7.   Canada
8.   Kazakhstan
9.   Brazil

See also edit

2012 Men's Water Polo Olympic Games Qualification Tournament

References edit

  1. ^ a b c [1] Archived 2010-06-18 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Japan's Water Polo teams place third and miss Olympic target". Archived from the original on 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  3. ^ "London 2012 - Water Polo - Olympic Games Qualification Tournaments". Archived from the original on 2012-04-09. Retrieved 2012-02-07.