Denis Strelezkij scored in the middle of the third quarter to make it 13:6 for Wasserfreunde Spandau 04. That should have been the end of the game for the hosts in the third final of the German water polo championship. But Waspo Hannover approached in the Schöneberg swimming pool. Also favored by a four-minute majority after Spandau’s Dmitri Kholod had to stay out of the water after a hit.
In the end, the hosts saved a 14:13 (4:2, 7:4, 2:3, 1:4) victory on Sunday afternoon and reduced the best-of-five series to 1:2. Hannover has missed the first match point for the third championship title in a row, but has home advantage in game four on Wednesday.
“We started great and played very concentrated. That was unexpectedly good after the defeats in the first games,” said Hagen Stamm: “Spandau has risen again.” However, the President was annoyed at the many lack of discipline. In addition to Kholod, Olympic champions Nikola Dedovic and Strelezkij were out early due to penalties. “That must not happen to these experienced players,” said Stamm.
The water friends wanted to prevent Waspo from marching through with three wins in a row, and they succeeded. Hannover is the favorite in their own bathroom, especially since Kholod will be suspended. But “not much has happened yet. We’ll see what we make of it now,” says Spandau’s manager Peter Röhle.
