The draw ceremony of the FINA and the Organising Committee of the 17th World Championships was opened by Tamás Gyárfás warm welcoming words. High interests accompanied the ceremony, several head coaches were there: Dejan Savic (Serbia), Ivica Tucak (Croatia), Giuseppe Porzio (Canada), Dejan Udovicic (United States) and Alessandro Campagna also took part of the draw.
Tünde Szabó dr., the Minister of State for Sport highlighted in her speech at the opening the great importance of the World Championships in Budapest this summer:
‘This event will be one of the biggest sport event ever hold in Hungary, this international event will give so much opportunity for the Hungarian sport to show off and guide the spotlight on us, to make history here. We are standing in front of an event which will be an unforgettable event not only for the fans, but for the coaches and the athletes as well. ‘
Gianni Lonzi, the first person of the FINA Water Polo Technical Committee was guiding the event, first of all the women polo team had the draw, later the men polo team had the spotlight. Members of the previous Hungarian World Champion water polo teams (István Szívós – 1973 Belgrade, Attila Vári – 2003 and Norbert Madaras – 2003, 2013 Barcelona, Orsolya Szalkay – 1994 Roma and Rita Drávucz- 2005 Montreal) and many Hungarian representatives of the Hungarian Aquatics sport have been chosen to play part at the draw, for example Szofi Kiss synchronised swimmer, Villő Kormos European bronze medallist diver and Dániel Gyurta Olympic and World Champion swimmer.
The water polo tournaments will be played according to the draw from the 16th of July with the women’s matches and one day later with the men matches. (A number was also picked for each team that were drawn out of the 4 main ranking hats, which defines the position of each team within their group.
The women’s water polo tournaments’ groups:
Group A: Italy, Brazil, Canada, China
Group B: New Zeeland, South Africa, Spain, USA
Group C: Japan, Netherland, Hungary, France
Group D: Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Greece
The men’s water polo tournaments’ groups:
Group A: Brazil, Montenegro, Kazakhstan, Canada
Group B: France, Australia, Italy, Hungary
Group C: Spain, Serbia, Greece, South Africa
Group D: USA, Japan, Croatia, Russia
The first placed teams of every group will be automatically reach the quarterfinals, till the every second from the groups will have to compete against the teams finished at their groups at the third places to get into the best 8 teams.
The 17th World Championships Water Polo draw was followed by another two water polo tournament draws of FINA happening this year. The men junior team will be playing in Belgrade between the 5-13th of August and the women team will be playing in Volos between the 3-9th of September.
The 19th Men’s Junior Water Polo Championship’s groups:
Group A: United States, Russia, Greece, American qualifier, Iran
Group B: Netherland, American qualifier, Spain, Japan, Croatia
Group C: New Zeeland, Australia, American qualifier, Serbia, China
Group D: Italy, Hungary, Egypt, Canada, South Africa
The 12th Women’s Junior Water Polo Championship’s groups:
Group A: Japan, Russia, Hungary, Netherland
Group B: China, Australia, South Africa, Greece
Group C: Italy, Canada, American qualifier, Germany
Group D: Spain, American qualifier, New Zeeland, USA
