Romania will be present at the Olympic Games with the polo team after a 12-year break, GSP announces.
Polo Game Archive
Romania finished the World Championships in Doha in tenth place with a kind of sadness, after being defeated, in the quarter-final play-off, by Montenegro with 9-12. The presence among the top eight would have ensured his Olympic ticket.
However, the “tricolors” managed to defeat China and fight for 9-10 places with the USA. A match they lost 9-13. And the news of the qualification in Paris came only on Saturday, when World Aquatics offered the players from Romania the Olympic tickets. South Africa, which was qualified from the position of the best team on its continent, withdrew, thus, the best ranked team among the unqualified ones went up to the Olympic table, i.e. Romania.
Shock for the Federation
“It's something extraordinary, it's something wonderful, I'm still in shock, especially for these kids who achieved an extraordinary performance. I am happy for them and congratulate them! I will always be with them, as I have been for two years or so. I will push them to achieve incredible performances”said Alexandru Matei, the president of FR Polo, for GSP.ro.
The best performance of the men's national team at the Olympic Games is the fourth place at the 1976 edition. The national polo team is currently the only Romanian team that will go to the Olympics. These days, the women's table tennis team plays its qualification for the Olympics, if it enters the first 8 teams at the World Cup in South Korea.
