News - Second round of the Russian Championship among men's teams
In the second round of the Russian Championship among men's teams, Groups A and B will meet in Volgograd, Groups B and G - in St. Petersburg
Based on the results of the first round, the leaders of the Championship were Spartak-Volgograd and Dynamo-SShOR of the Astrakhan Region. Both teams won 5 out of 5 previous games, in the strongest matches of the tour the team "Dynamo-SShOR" beat the current Champion of Russia - Kazan "KOS-Sintez", "Spartak-Volgograd" beat VK "Baltika".
Commentary from the head coach of the Russian men's water polo team Andrey Belofastov:
— The Kazan tour was interesting and in the presence of a large number of spectators, In Kazan they love and actively develop water polo, two swimming pools have been built, young people are showing good results. The fact that the Astrakhan team did not lose a single point is probably a big surprise, since the Kazan clubs KOS-Sintez and Kos-UOR rarely lose at home.
— In a face-to-face match, the St. Petersburg youth team beat the Belarusians on penalties, Vostok-2, made up of young players but having loaned experienced guys from the first team, turned out to be stronger than the St. Petersburg and Belarus teams. The central match of this round was the meeting between Baltika and Volgograd Spartak. We started the game well (2:2 after the first period), but, unfortunately, in the second we made a number of mistakes (3:6). They were close to catching up with their opponent in the final quarter, but they failed to realize their numerical advantage twice and eventually lost 8:10.
Also, from October 8 to 10, Astrakhan will host an international tournament with the participation of the Iranian National Team. The tournament will be attended by Dynamo-SShOR of the Astrakhan Region and the Russian youth team
— In the current conditions, international matches are of enormous importance, Belofastov believes. — Yes, the Iranian team is inferior in class to the Olympic champions, the Serbs, but we will be happy to play with this opponent. In general, warm friendly relations have been established with the Iranians. The Russian youth team, made up of guys born in 2005 and younger, will take part in the tournament. The main team of Dynamo Astrakhan will also play. We have a young team, with only three athletes born in 1994 and 1995 remaining. The backbone is made up of guys born in 2001, 2003 and the same 2005. I repeat, international matches are very important. I am convinced that it will be useful and interesting for us to play in this tournament.
Photo: SC "Sintez"
