Women’s Water Polo Olympic Qualification Tournament Postponed
Initially set to take place March 8-15 in Trieste, Italy, the 2020 Olympic qualification tournament for women’s water polo will now be held May 17-24 as a result of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy.
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The news comes as no surprise as many sporting events in Italy and around the world have been canceled or postponed due to the outbreak. Despite concerns, FINA (the aquatic sports’ governing body) has opted to keep the event in Italy, even though the Italians have already hosted the Olympic qualification tournament three of the last four times.
Greece’s women’s national team will now have to wait another two months to see if they will be able to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 2008, after missing out in 2012 (despite being the reigning world champion), and in 2016 (losing on penalties to eventual bronze medalist Russia in the qualification tournament).
As of now, the men’s qualification tournament will still be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from March 22-29. There, the Greek men’s national team will be aiming to extend their Olympic qualification streak to 11, having qualified for every Olympics from 1980 on.
