The Spanish junior women’s water polo team has reached this Friday the World Championship final of its category that is being disputed these days in Netanya (Israel). The girls of Jordi Valls they have defeated in the semifinals by 14-12 to Italy and they will seek the second Spanish universal title in this age range.
Spain She had been second in her group in the previous days after winning 15-5 against France, drawing 5-5 against the Netherlands and beating South Africa 16-4. Already in the round of 16 they overwhelmed Germany 18-2 and in the quarterfinals they overcame the tough obstacle of Russia, which they won 10-5, to get into the fight for the medals.
It is certain that he will return from Israel with one of them around his neck. Spain beat an Italy this Friday that had set the standard with an initial partial of 5-4 and rose whole in the last quarter to beat the transalpinas by two. In this way, will fight this Saturday (18:00) for gold against Greece, who has won in the first semifinal to Hungary 13-8.
With the absolute team seated for almost a decade in the first line of the world elite, the future also looks promising for Spanish women’s water polo according to what has been exhibited in the lower categories. This junior team is led by the already Olympic runner-up in Tokyo Elena Ruiz, Ruby star of the Division of Honor.
Many players with an important role in their respective teams in the Spanish league complete the squad led by Valls. This is the case of the Sant Andreu players Gisel la Farré, María Palacio, Ariadna Ruiz and Martina Terré, of female players with a prominent role in Mataró (Cristina Nogué), Sabadell (Nona Perez) or Terrassa (Paula Camús and Martina Cardona) or others with an increasingly important role in their teams such as Elena Camarena (Boadilla), Lucia Gomez (Canoe), Elia Jimenez (Blond Paula prats (Mediterrani).
Spain aspires to emulate the success of 2011 junior world title, with Miki Oca in command and with several of the key players in the golden decade of Spanish water polo that has elapsed since then. They were part of that team, among others, Anni Espar, Roser Tarragó, Marta Bach, Patri Herrera, Andrea Blas or Lorena Miranda. Then the 2013 and 2015 finals were lost.