Man is very emotional. As the Tiszavirág team decided to pretend as if The Current wasn’t here, I was determined to neglect the 11th UWR World Championships happening nearby in Austria. I carry my emotional baggage related to events now years back and it would have been awful if it had successfully kept me away from featuring this awesome event.
I’ve found myself not only not missing any game of the Hungarian team, but following pretty much all matches. I think our sport needed something like this a lot. This event is so well organized, it should set a standard. When so many gave up hope that we are to see anything from CMAS, the Austrians put together a World Championships which brought the President of CMAS, Anna Arzhanova to Graz.
Graz sets a standard
The past couple years Austria, particularly the club of Graz has been growing steady in numbers and quality alike. Their event features the most countries CMAS Championships ever had – 18. Perfect opportunity for Austria to show that they belong to the top. They’ve designed the event fail-safe. The large pools of Graz would have changed the style of the game and gained countries like Colombia or Hungary advantage. With a temporary wall, the pool’s dimensions are shortened to 16x9x4 meters, making the matches more physical and action-packed. The referees are experienced and assertive. The commentary consists of Davrell from the Euroleague and Wolfgang & Lorena from the UWR Academy/Champions’ Cup. The live stream is available for everyone in HD on YT.
The need for a predictable tournament can also be captured in the schedule, in other words, the draw of teams. The design ensures strong teams make their way to the top.
Join the dark side
If you look at the results, you may find something interesting. So far, the dark side is dominating the light side, the results are quite uneven. Teams in white barely score even one goal against their opponents and get sometimes up to 20, 30 goals in their net. This is because the draw makes group matches a proving ground for the powerhouses of UWR and stronger teams get to wear the more compelling blue suits. The crafted draw allows tilting of the odds two ways: some teams may play twice a day and the teams in white have to deal with the psychological pressure of knowing that they are the ones expected to lose. On the contrary, we are to see a lot more even matches in the 2nd half of the event as teams with matching strength will meet in the placement games.
Rent-a-team
Prior to the event, Davrell also reported concerns about the liberal policy on accepting foreigners on national teams. In general I stand for offering the possibility of playing to as many as possible, but I’ve also managed to encounter the issues coming along with this first-handed, and as it seemed, I may not be the only person in such a situation. However, the selection or lack of selection for nation teams is not the responsibility of the host.
Who came and who stayed away
Let me start with the inconvenient part. It’s a pity not seeing a French team despite their efforts to be present. Same goes for a male Türkish team, based on their ladies, they would be a force to reckon with. At least there was an explanation of sorts in their case. But where are the Russians?
We can welcome Canada, Great Britain, Hungary and Luxembourg on the other hand, and I think Slovakia is also present for the first time.
Top10
When trying to guess the final outcome and Hungary’s rank within, the real surprises can occur in the mid-level, from the 7th place and below.
It would have been hard for me not to cheer for a team in red, white and green so I’ve been following all games of Hungary. ( and a few of the Italian teams’ too, but that’s unrelated ) Must note the cool defends at penalties of our Bamberger goalie and how Marci is just everywhere.
We started with a decent 14:0 against Sweden, the next day Austria managed to score 7:0, which is nice based on the Austrian performance. On Monday Hungary lost 2:0 to the USA in a good game. Tuesday started with a 3:0 win against Luxembourg, but this was the day the team had to play twice and at the end of the day, the Czechs managed to succeed where the Austrians have failed and scored 16:0.
If you were wondering about the huge “B”-s on the suits, Tiszavirág finally got backed by the Bitcoin business thanks to Mr. Happy. Nicely done finding sponsors!
If all goes well for Hungary, we are to arrive somewhere around the 12th-14th position.
Italy, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary (the ones I can compare) all came with teams atop of their game, based on the games the same stands for all nations. Austria already beat the USA and Hungary, but what happens, if they match with the Czechs or the Australians? The Aussies are the big surprises of the World Championships so far, both male and female teams are showing pro skills. Thumbs up for countries like Australia, Great Britain, Canada and the USA for sending teams in both divisions. The level of the female competition matches the male’s, the games are thrilling. Austria played well against Germany, but the finals will be decided between Germany, Finland, Colombia and Norway. The Türkish team was grouped with Colombia, stood ground pretty well.
To sum it up, it is a common opinion that The Empire Strikes Back is the best episode of the SW-saga.
The organizers did splendid work to let countries from all around the globe show the best of their underwater rugby. If you’re not watching, you’re missing out! To be continued with the matches of the first half of the UWR World Championships.
