Greece wins its first-ever gold medal at U17 Europeans

Greece is the new European champion for the U17 male water polo players.

The Greeks narrowly defeated Serbia 9:8 in the final of the 2023 European U17 Championships in Manisa. The first two quarters were crucial for the outcome of the final game. At halftime, Greece led 6:1. Serbia was close to an equalizer at the finish, but Greece didn’t let the rival come back.

Today’s triumph is the first gold for Greece at the Men’s European U17 Championships. Two years ago, Greece finished 2nd at the U17 Europeans in Malta,after Serbia defeated it in the final.

Spain won the bronze medal beating Hungary convincingly 14:8 in the third-place game.

Interestingly, both medal matches were rematches of the games of the medals at the previous U17 Europeans, held in Malta in 2021, with opposite outcomes. Hungary won bronze in Malta two years ago, beating Spain. Interestingly, both medal matches were rematches of the games of the medals at the previous U17 Europeans, held in Malta in 2021, with opposite outcomes. Hungary won bronze in Malta two years ago, beating Spain. Of course, there are no players who participated in both tournaments.

Montenegro defeated Italy 11:7 in the 5^th-place match. Croatia finished in 7th place after edging out the Netherlands (14:13).

2023 European U17 Men’s Championships, Day 7

Final

Greece – Serbia 9:8 (3:1, 3:0,1:4, 2:3)

Greece: Mavriopoulos, Lykoudis 2, Kokkinos 1, Karatzas 2, Kapragkos 1, Laskaridis 2, Zervoudakis 1, Chomatas, Mitrakis, Siamas, Belesis, Maragkoudakis, Kratimenos. Head coach: Machiras.

Serbia:Dimkovic, Bodiroga, Novakovic 1, Icitovic, Spasovic, Gladovic 3, Lazic, Kojic, Adamovic 2, Boskovic 1, Krstic 1, Dimic, Savic. Head coach: Korolija.

Greece won the gold thanks to an excellent 6:0 run between the 6th and the 16th minute. Serbia was a better rival in the second half and almost catch up with the rival. Still, the Greeks managed to save a minimal advantage and big win.

Serbia took an opening 1:0 lead in the 5th minute, but Greece entered the second quarter with a two-goal advantage. The Greeks’ goalkeeper Mariopoulos posted a few good saves and encouraged his teammates, who scored three goals in the last 128 seconds of the first quarter and gained a 3:1 lead.

Early in the second period, Greece went to 4:1 after Lykoudis converted a penalty shot. Serbia had a lot of problems in the attack. Most of their scoring attempts were from a distance and were blocked or saved. Greece widened the margin to five by the middle break (6:1).

Serbia’s goalless phase lasted for almost 15 minutes and was ended by Gladovic, who converted a man-up for 2:6. Shortly after, the Serbs added two quick goals and trailed 4:6 in the middle of the quarter. Their 6 on 6 defense worked really well in the third quarter. They kept the Greece far from their goal. However, Greece’s Karatazas converted the only man-up his team had in the third period for 7:4. Still, Serbia reduced the gap once to two again before the final quarter (5:7).

Zervoudakis opened the fourth period with a lob shot for 8:5. In the 29th minute, Kapragkos converted a man-up for 9:5 and Greece was just a tiny step far from the throne. Still, Serbia didn’t wave a white flag and started coming back and almost leveled the score. They netted three straight goals and cut the deficit to one goal with 70 seconds left on the clock. Luka Boskovic scored from a counterattack to make it 8:9. Serbia’s defense was up to the task in Greece’s next possession. The team in the white caps didn’t manage to shoot in that attack, and Serbia had a chance to equalize. But, 25 seconds before the end, a shot from a Serbian player went just above the crossbar. In the remaining time, the Greeks kept the ball and started celebrating the win.

The Greeks won the gold with six wins in as many matches (in the semifinals, they beat Spain in a penalty shootout) and defeated Serbia twice in the tournament (the score of the game in the group stage was 11:9)

Bronze-medal game

Spain – Hungary 14:8 (2:1, 4:2, 5:2, 3:3)

Spain: Diaz, Gomila 1, Nunez 5, Perrone 4, Feliu, Sabadell 2, Lema 2, J.Fernandez, Llaurado, Garcia, Granados, Rodriguez, Acuna. Head coach: Sanchez-Toril.

Hungary: Maser, Balogh 2, A.Toth, Doroszalai 1, Zeman, Imre, Tatrai 2, Regos, M.Nagy 2, Haverkampf, Simon 1, Lugosi, Borbely. Head coach: Korenyi.

The duel between Spain and Hungary in the group stage, played a few days ago, ended in a 14:14 draw. The first eight minutes of the bronze-medal match indicated that today’s game would be similar to the one in Division 1. Perrone gave Spain a 1:0 lead from a penalty. Nagy leveled from a 6 on 6. Lema put Spain in front in the 7th minute.

But, from the 2nd quarter, Spain controlled everything in the pool. Sabadell made it 4:1 with two goals in Spain’s first two possessions in the second quarter. Until halftime, the teams traded goals. Spain stretched the margin to four in the 18th minute (Gomila – 7:3). In the middle of the quarter, Hungary’s captain Balogh scored for 4:7. But Hungary’s last hope disappeared in the following few minutes. Spain produced a 4:0 run in 02:29 minutes. Carlos Perez scored three of those four goals, and Tomas Perone found the net once. Spain built a huge 11:4 lead in the 23rd minute and there was no way back for Hungary.

5th-place match

Italy – Montenegro 7:11 (1:2, 1:1, 4:4, 1:4)

Italy: Demarchi 3, Barigelli Calcari 1, Varvallo 1, De Vecchis 1, Salipante 1.
Montenegro: Gojkovic 4, Janovic 3, Markovic 1, Petrovic 1, Perov 1, Kovacic 1,

Montenegro dictated the pace throughout the match. Italy leveled just once – in the early stage of the game (1:1). The Monetenegrins regained a lead quickly, and from that point on, they were always in front. Montenegro earned a 3-goal lead in the third period (6:3, 7:4). But, the Italians didn’t give in and cut the deficit to one with two goals in the last 53 seconds of the third quarter (6:7). However, Montenegro rebuilt a 3-goal lead shortly after the final break (9:6) and increased the margin to four by the end.

7th-place match

Croatia – Netherlands 14:13 (4:3, 3:4, 3:3, 4:3)

Croatia: Dragosevic 4, Raci 2, Sinovcic 2, Jerkovic 2, Curkovic 1, Burburan 1, Dondivic 1, Doknic 1.
Netherlands: Terlouw 3, Jukic 3 Van der Weijden 2, Van der Schaaf 2, Spee 1, De Ligny 1, De Zwaan 1.

The 7th-place match saw a few big turns. Croatia led 2:0 and 4:2. However, the Dutch Dutch team took a 7:5 lead in the second quarter, but the Croats managed to equalize with two goals in just 25 seconds before halftime – 7:7. The Netherlands regained a 2-goal advantage in the third period (9:7 and 10:8). Still, Croatia caught up with the Dutch before the last quarter (10:10). The teams exchanged the goals in the final quarter. Croatia took a one-goal advantage four times. The Dutch leveled three times and had a man-up in its last attack in the game, but Croatia’s goalie Niksa Batos saved a shot with 10 seconds to go.

Final standings

1. Greece
2. Serbia
3. Spain
4. Hungary, 5. Montenegro, 6. Italy, 7. Croatia, 8. Netherlands, 9. Turkey, 10. Germany, 11. Malta, 12. France, 13. Romania, 14. Georgia, 15. Ukraine, 16. Poland

All winners

European U18 Championships
1983 (Istanbul, Turkey): Hungary
1985 (La Valetta, Malta): USSR
1987 (Athens, Greece): Yugoslavia
1989 (Istanbul, Turkey): Hungary
1991: not held
1993 (Veenendaal, Netherlands): Hungary
1995 (Esslingen, Germany): Yugoslavia
1997 (Maribor, Slovenia): Hungary
1999 (Sofia, Bulgaria): Croatia
2001 (Hagen, Germany): Hungary
2003 (Istanbul, Turkey): Serbia and Montenegro
2005 (Sofia, Bulgaria): Serbia and Montenegro
2007 (Gzira, Malta): Serbia

European U17 Championships
2008 (Belgrade, Serbia): Hungary
2010 (Stuttgart, Germany): Italy
2011 (Rijeka, Croatia): Croatia
2013 (Gzira, Malta): Montenegro
2015 (Baku, Azerbaijan): Serbia
2017 (Gzira, Malta): Montenegro
2019 (Tbilisi, Georgia): Italy
2021 (Gzira, Malta): Serbia
2023 (Manisa, Turkey): Greece

More articles about the European Men’s U17 Championships