There are not so few water polo Bundesliga teams that have been on dry land for about a year due to Corona. Master Waspo 98 is not one of them, and the White Sharks Hannover also played at least a little last summer.
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“But this eternal pause draws our sport down. It was high time that the DSV reacted, ”said Waspo President Bernd Seidensticker. The Bundesliga is due to start in March, and there will be preparatory tournaments on February 13th, one of which will be in Hanover.
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Pictures from the first semi-final of the German water polo championship between the White Sharks and Waspo 98 Hannover
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Ante Corusic from Waspo 98 is surrounded by great white sharks.
© Debbie Jayne Kinsey
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Two tournaments in Hanover
In addition to the champions and the White Sharks, the Bundesliga third OSC Potsdam are participating, as well as from the A-group of the Bundesliga of SV Ludwigsburg, ASC Duisburg, SSV Esslingen and SG Neukölln and as the only representative of the B-group of SV Krefeld 72.
Potsdam and Duisburg will be there on the first tournament weekend in Hanover, and the game will be played in the stadium pool. Neither the Sharks nor Waspo are traveling, another tournament is scheduled for February 20th and 21st in the capital of Lower Saxony. “We are and will remain in a bubble and can live with it”, emphasizes Seehafer. So far, neither Waspo nor Sharks have had a corona case.
“We’re bobbing behind”
Most recently, the master had tested with the national team in the Bundeswehr sports school in Warendorf because the DSV selection had canceled participation in the four-nation tournament in Montenegro as a precaution. “That was great for us. But the other teams didn’t have the chance, ”said Seehafer and is just as concerned about the level in Germany as Seidensticker. He says: “The big nations played despite Corona, we’re lagging behind.”
Waspo and Cup winner Spandau 04 got the receipt in the Champions League, the German top clubs remained pointless in the first section with three games. “We were bad there, we just missed the games,” says Peter Muslim, Waspos Croatian Olympic champion, “but I think we’ll be much better in March.”
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Others want but cannot
The fact that not even more first division clubs take part in the preparation for the season is due to the different corona rules in the individual federal states. Everyone was interested, says Bundesliga round leader Holger Sonnenfeld: “Some of them currently have no pool available, while others can train regularly.”
Seehafer believes that the new season will be shortened and played on a few weekends. “In any case, we are happy to have a practice,” emphasizes Sharks captain Marvin Götz. “The corona hole wasn’t that big in Hanover, we’ve been training for weeks. I see that as a privilege at this time. “
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