We lcome to this month’s President’s
newsletter and to the warmer weather
that much of Europe starts to experience
at this time of the year. In this edition,
we report on the forthcoming LEN
Congress, the continuing European water
polo competitions and on several key
meetings which were held to facilitate the
staging of this year’s European
Championships. Finance, water polo,
swimming, diving, a LEN Bureau meeting
and the coming Congress all formed part
of the month’s key agenda. 2014 is an
important year for LEN with two
European Championships and the Final
Six event taking place in May.
LEN CONGRESS
One of the events central to the LEN activity calendar, the LEN
Congress, will take place on October 3rd and 4th at the Hotel Parchi del
Garda, Lake Garda in Italy. This will be the 56th LEN Congress since the
event was first staged in 1926 in Budapest. The event will be organised
by the Italian Federation with the support of Myrtha Pools. Details for
the event were finalised during a meeting between Marco Birri, LEN
Sports and Office Manager, Simona Spurio Schiavoni, PA to the LEN
President, and a representative of the Myrtha pools at the Hotel Parchi
del Garda, Garda Lake.
European Water Polo Championships
The draw for the European Water Polo Championships was held in
Budapest on March 9th. It was conducted by Gianni Lonzi, Chairman of
the LEN Technical Water Polo Committee, and Marco Birri. The draw
was also attended by Paolo Barelli, President of LEN, Tamas Gyarfas,
Treasurer of LEN, and Denes Kemeny, President of the Hungarian Water
Polo Federation.
In the men’s competition, Group A will consist of Montenegro, Italy,
Greece, Russia, Georgia and Romania while Group B is comprised of
Serbia, Hungary, Germany, France, Croatia and Spain.
The women’s championship is also split into 2 groups. In Group A,
Greece, Hungary, Great Britain and Netherlands will face one another
while in Group B the four competing countries will be Italy, Russia,
Spain and France.
WATER POLO
Denes Kemeny, Paolo Barelli, Istvan Tarlos, Mayor of Budapest and Tamas Gyarfas at the draw for the
European Water Polo Championships
Rita Dravics, Hungarian water polo star makes the draw for the European Men’s Water Polo Championships
Turning to officials, the LEN Water Polo Referees School was held once
again at the Italian Aquatic Swimming Centre in Ostia, Rome. Run between
March 7th and 9th, some 15 candidates were put through an intensive
training course with a view to developing the next generation of European
water polo referees. All candidates had to be under 40 years of age and to
have had at least one year’s experience as a Grade 1 referee within their
own countries. This was the sixth year of the Referees School, which
averages between 15 and 20 candidates per year.
Our continent’s club water polo competitions are close to their climax and I
will bring you up to date with the position in both men’s and women’s
competitions.
Champions League
The Men’s Champions League is rapidly progressing towards the Final Six
Competition to be held in Barcelona in May. Days 7 and 8 were held during
March. In Group A, Primorje from Rijeka maintained their lead at the top of
the group following a 13-5 home win over Eger of Hungary and a 10-8 win
over Greek club, Olympiacos. Pro Recco are placed second in the group
after an 11-6 win over Barceloneta. With 3 teams to qualify for the Final 6,
Primorje, Pro Recco, Barceloneta and Jug Croatia are all in close contention.
The leaders in Group B are Radniki who defeated the Romanian side,
Oradea 16-6, and dispensed with Spandau 04 Berlin, 16-10 on Day 8.
Nuotatori Brescia, who defeated Spandau and went on to beat Galatasaray
10-5, also has a strong hope of qualifying. The third place remains a tussle
between Partizan and Spandau 04.
Euro League Women
The Women’s Euro League witnessed the second leg of the quarter finals
on March 12th. Geymonat Orizzonte Catania, who beat Ugra by the odd
goal in 33, a very high scoring game; Sabadell who beat Olympiacos 8-6;
Vougliagmeni, Greece, which beat the powerful Kinef Surgutneftgas team,
14-13; and Mediterranea Imperia, 16-12 winners over Firenze, progressed
to the next stage.
Euro Cup
The second leg of the semi-finals of the Men’s Euro Cup and the first leg of
the finals were also held during March. Wins by Carpisa Yamamay
Aquachiara over Spartak Volgograd and by Mladost over Nautico Posillipo
meant that these two teams went through to the final. In the first of this twolegged
final, Pavel Khalturin, scored 4 goals for Spartak, the home side.
Spartak holds an 11-5 lead over Mladost at the halfway stage.
Bureau meetings
The LEN Bureau met on March 29th in Istanbul with the Executive and the
Officers meeting on March 28th. Among many other issues, the meeting
decided that:
 At the European Championships in Berlin, 10 lanes of the pool would be
used for the heats only
 A competition handbook should be created
 The European Short Course Championships would, in the future, be
extended by a day
 The dates of May 9th-22nd were confirmed for the 2016 London European
Championships
 A LEN Junior Category B event will be introduced for diving in 2015
 In water polo, the first 6 teams from the 2013 Women’s Junior
Championships would have direct entry into the women’s event at the
2015 European Games
 16 men’s and 12 women’s teams will be allowed entry into the 2016
European Water Polo Championships
 The 2016 European Water Polo Championships to be held in Belgrade
were scheduled for January 11th-24th
During the meeting, the representatives of Izmir the Turkish Swimming
Federation presented their bid for the 2018 European Championships. The
name of the host city for the 2018 Championships will be determined during
the 2014 Championship event.
MEETINGS
Paolo Barelli, LEN President, and Ahmet Bozdogan, the President of
Turkish Swimming, during the recent LEN Bureau Meeting in Istanbul
The Bureau also received a presentation from Cees Rein van den
Hoogenband, Chairman of the LEN Medical Committee. The Bureau decided
not to become an independent anti-doping body but to support FINA and
European NADA’s in their efforts. The importance of all federations
participating in the European Aquatics Day which takes place on June 22nd
2014 was also stressed during the meeting.
Site Meetings
Three site meetings were held during March. The first one was held on
March 9th and 10th and was attended by Marco Birri and David Rouger (LEN
Marketing and TV Manager). A key part of this meeting was a discussion
with Magyar Television, as the host television broadcaster for the European
Water Polo Championships.
The second site visit took place in Bergamo, Italy which will host the
European Junior Diving Championships. Marco Birri visited the venue to
look at all aspects concerning the event which will take place between July
1st and 6th.
The last site meeting was held on March 23rd and 24th in Barcelona. Marco
Birri and David Rouger attended discussions which took place during two
days of planning for the Final Six event of the Champions League, water
polo, which will take place on May 29th and 31st.
General meetings
One of the important office based meetings that took place during the
month was held between Paulo Frischknecht, the LEN Director, and Hans
Gerrits Jans, the internal auditor. The purpose behind the meeting was to
finalise the budget for 2014.
Paolo Barelli
President