Great Britain U20s compete for the first time in Barcelona

Great Britain’s new U20 water polo squads made their competitive debut at the Next Generations Cup in Barcelona.

The second annual event – set up by Barcelona International Water Polo Academy (BIWPA) and Club Natacio Sabadell – invites elite clubs and national teams from across the globe to compete in a high-level tournament for young athletes.

Over the course of three days, more than 50 matches took place featuring teams from the United States of America, Spain, Hungary, France, Serbia, Portugal, South Africa, Malta and the Netherlands.

Both Great Britain’s men’s and women’s U20 side were involved in their respective tournaments with the women’s side finishing sixth and the men in twelfth.

The women’s side – which didn’t feature any of those that finished ninth in the U19 European Championships last month – battled back from a tough group stage with a narrow victory against Barcelona Water Polo Club in the fifth to eighth classification match.

A strong start sent them on their way to victory with early strikes from Anna Klib, Amelie Crompton, Charlotte Turpin and a penalty from Elsie Graves gave them a 4-1 lead after the opening quarter.

Barcelona fought back late on but a second penalty from Graves in the second and three final quarter strikes from Crompton, Turpin and Isabella Ibbs saw GB hold onto the lead for the remainder of the contest.

That set them up with a battle for fifth with Dutch side ZVL-1886 with a closely fought contest ending 6-4 to ZVL.

The British team kept the contest close throughout, holding the Dutch in both the first and third quarters.

Goals from Crompton and Klib in the first and late strike from Graves in the second kept them within one at half time with Graves adding another in the third to keep them within touching distance.

They pushed for a way back into the game in the fourth but couldn’t quite break down the ZVL defence as they ended their campaign in sixth spot.

Dramatic penalty shootout

It was a similar story for the men’s side who bounced back after their early defeats with a strong performance against hosts CN Sabadell.

The play-in match was their last chance to progress to the quarter finals but after a dramatic penalty shootout they fell to a 14-13 defeat.

The match was fairly low scoring in the opening three quarters but it spung to life in the fourth as both teams netted six goals apiece in the final seven minutes.

Sabadell looked in control at the start of the final quarter, pulling into an 8-6 lead thanks to a two-minute hattrick from Tiago Carrio.

But following a timeout the British side fought back, scoring four of the next six to pull level at 10-10 thanks to a Murray Dickson double as well as strikes from Alistair Cook and Jack Hodges.

Then with just 31 seconds left, Cook fired in a penalty to give Great Britain the lead but Carrio levelled with eight seconds on the clock to force a penalty shootout.

Both Cook – his seventh of the match – and Hodges converted for Great Britain but Sabadell scored three of their four penalties to run out 14-13 winners and move onto the next round.

The result forced Great Britain into the lower classification matches where they eventually finished twelfth after another narrow defeat to ZVL-1886.

A strong start from the Dutch side saw them lead 3-1 at half time which was a scoreline the Brits couldn’t recover from.

Will Bamborough and Cook both scored twice with Hodges adding another as GB were beaten 9-5 in their final match in Barcelona.

You can check out all the results from the men’s competition here and the women’s here. You can also watch back each of the matches on the BIWPA YouTube channel.

Images courtesy of BIWPA.