Australian Women ready for World Youth Water Polo Championships

The Australian Youth Women are gearing up to take on the world’s best young water polo teams when they line up at the FINA Youth World Championships in Serbia starting August 27.

Belgrade’s newly renovated Milan Gale Muškatirović pool will welcome 16 nations for the week-long tournament.

The World Youth Championships is an important tournament in Australia’s women’s water polo pathway, with the team featuring players born in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

To view the official event web page – click here.

Australia’s FINA Women’s Youth World Championships Schedule:

• Day 1 Monday, August 27 – AUS vs UZB 10:20 (6:20pm AEST)
• Day 2 Tuesday, August 28 – AUS vs BRA 9:00 (5:00pm AEST)
• Day 3 Wednesday, August 29 – AUS vs GRE 20:40 (August 30, 4:40am AEST)
• Days 4-7, August 30 – September 2 – TBC

GAME 1 PREVIEW: Australia vs Uzbekistan

Australia will face an unknown Uzbekistan team in their opening match tonight.

Australian player Carla Traplin has been training for this tournament for the past two years and says the key for the team will be to stick to the structure and systems they have trained to.

“We’ve never played them before and they haven’t played in any international tournaments recently. We’re expecting them to play a lot like Russia because geographically they are very close together.

We also expect them to play a high press in the lanes, be quite in your face and play more static than physical,” said Traplin.

She believes the key to the team’s first win will be to focus on their own game and not what Uzbekistan might throw at them.

“I think if we can stick to our systems in the game and we don’t fall to their pace whether it’s too fast or too slow, will give us a chance.
“We’re definitely quite a fast team, we are very mobile and we have trust in everyone across the pool.”

Watch Australia’s opening FINA Youth World Championships match from 6:20pm (AEST) tonight. Tune in via FINAtv or follow updates on the @WaterpoloAus Twitter account.