Women, Round 1 – Group A: Netherlands v Croatia 21-1

Arno Havenga, head coach, Netherlands
“The first game is always nervous, we had to concentrate well. Tomorrow we have another game and we need to continue this way.”

Sabrina Van der Sloot, Player, Netherlands
“It was an amazing game today. I think we did well. The first game is always exciting.”

Dragan Matutinovic, head coach, Croatia:
“This was expected. We now move onto the next game against France on Sunday. We have to play a better game. Our goal is to reach the top 8. It will be difficult but it’s not impossible. This defeat won’t have an impact psychologically.”

Petra Bukic, player, Croatia:
“We expected something like this… There is a huge difference quality-wise. They blocked us with strong pressing. Now we have to think about how to put out our best performance and win the match against France tomorrow – as it’s not easy to lose with such big difference.”

Women, Round 1 – Group A: Israel v Italy 2-21

Fabio Conti, head coach, Italy:
“I’m satisfied, it’ s a good start for us. These are in reality two different levels of water polo. This was a good practice for us as tomorrow we have an important match against Greece.”

Giulia Emmolo, player, Italy:
“It was important for us to start well, get into the rhythm of the Championships. We played strong. Now we have to stay focused on tomorrow’s game against Greece.”

Dimitrios Mavrotas, head coach, Israel:
“This is a historical day for water polo in Israel. This is the nation’s first appearance at this level of competition. We started the game well, especially in the first quarter but as the game went on we just couldn’t keep up with their rhythm. We know our level. I’m satisfied with the performance the girls showed. We must keep improving ourselves.”

Ayelet Peres, player, Israel:
“It was hard. We tried to score goals, to push as much as we can. We know this is not our level yet but we’ll keep on trying.”

Women, Round 1 – Group B: Russia v Turkey 35-4

Andrei Belofastov, assistant coach, Russia:
“It was a game where we knew that we were favourites, so we played aggressively and attacked a lot. We scored a lot of goals today. It was a tough game and it was a very important task to play well today.”

Hakan Sahbaz, head coach, Turkey:
“What can I say, it was a tough game. We are trying to improve.”

Kus Kübra, player, Turkey
“It was tough. We are here to learn from the experience and grow.”

Kus Kubra, captain, Turkey:
“It was a tough game, they are a strong and fast team. We are a very young team, most of the girls are under 18. We are trying to improve, learn from experience – that is our main goal in this tournament. It was a rough start but we will try to get better as we move forward.”

Women, Round 1 – Group B: Serbia v Germany 8-9

Dejan Jovovi?, head coach, Serbia:
“What can I say, too bad… We started off well, had 7:4 lead and instead of bringing the game to a close we started rushing and allowed the Germans to bounce back. Apparently we still need some time and tough matches to show the quality I know we possess.”

Ivana Corovic, captain, Serbia:
“We started well, but unfortunately we couldn’t keep our rate up until the end of the game, our game fell apart and we lost. The championship just started and we have more games to play, so we need to keep our heads up, though it’s a shame that we didn’t fulfill our goal at the start.”

Anja Skibba, head coach, Germany:
“It was a very hard game and they fouled a lot, but in the end we managed to win. This was my first time at the Picornell Pool, it is a fantastic pool and it is a very nice venue for the competition.”

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