British Water Polo team face Russia as they await funding appeal decision
The British Gas GBR Women’s Water Polo team will play Russia in a FINA World League qualifying match on Tuesday (18 March) as they await the outcome of their appeal against UK Sport funding cuts.
The GBR team was narrowly defeated 12-9 when they hosted the 2013 World League runners-up in the home leg of the qualifier in Manchester in December.
But following qualification to the 2014 LEN European Championships, Captain Rosie Morris is confident the team can turn around the deficit and beat the Russians in Chelyabinsk.
Morris said: “We came away from the home match against Russia knowing we could have won it. Since then we’ve spent more time training and competing together while continuing to play at our European clubs, and will be looking to improve our defence.
“While it’s fair to say the last couple of months have been a bit of a rollercoaster with qualification to the European Championships closely followed by news of the funding cuts, we’ve pulled together as a team and stayed focused.
“We can’t wait to play Russia and show what GBR Women’s Water Polo is all about.”
In February UK Sport announced it was cutting funding to the Women’s Water Polo team following the annual investment review of summer Olympic and Paralympic sports. On 10 March British Swimming made representations to UK Sport against the withdrawal of funding. It is expected that UK Sport will announce whether these representations have been successful later this week.
The match against Russia takes place on Tuesday, 18 March at 14:00 GMT.
