Back with silver medal, aiming for gold

The long and long journey. But the success is also huge. Our National Junior Water Polo U18 team returned from China with the silver medal from the World Championship in their luggage. The girls were tired but also smiling and happy... How much more so when they saw their familiar faces, their father, mother, siblings who had been at "Eleftherios Venizelos" from early on. They sank into each other's arms and sure enough...the fatigue passed! They now had so much to tell and recount...

On behalf of the Greek Swimming Federation, the delegation was welcomed by the general secretary, Dimitris Kyrkos. Also, the federal coach of the women's national team, Alexia Kammenou, her partner, Tasos Pirpiris, and Evi Moraitidou.

Niki Piovan, passed first and left first. In a few hours she will board the plane to the USA, as she will begin her studies at "Harvard" and at the same time, of course, continue sports. He emphasized on the K.O.E. website: "We had worked very hard for three months, I think it showed, we certainly wanted the gold medal as well. I think we deserved it. We have shown what we can do and we will try to achieve it in 2025 at the global in Thailand. We all made the sacrifices required by the preparation during the summer but that didn't bother any of us. We love what we do and it is a huge honor to play with the national crest. We believe a lot in ourselves, we are very proud of our team."  

Ariadni Karabetsou, who was named the league's top player, traveled directly from China to the USA. The captain of the team will study at the University of Michigan and will also combine studies and sports.

The remaining 13 "silver" world champions are: Eftychia Konstantopoulou, Kasiana-Maria Margariti, Efstathia-Nefeli Kovacevich, Aspasia Fouraki, Despina Drakotou, Ioanna Kanellopoulou, Eleni Beta, Maria-Alexandra Papadopoulou, Theofania Galanopoulou, Asimina Klapsianou, Nicoleta Kyriakopoulou, Olga Oikonomou, Nefeli-Anna Krassa.

The delegation also included the federal technician, Eftychia Karagianni, her partner, Katerina Oikonomopoulou, the physiotherapist Natalia Skarpeti and the captain, Artin Elmisian. The international referee Maria Daskalopoulou also returned with the same flight, adding another successful major event to her resume. 

The statements of Katerina Economopoulou:

The statements of Ioanna Kanellopoulou:

Despina Drakotou's statements:

Eftychia Karagianni's statements:

The statements of Nefelis Kovacevich:

KOE Press Office: Thodoris Davelos