Bucharest – The Romanian swimmers that will take part in the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai, a competition scheduled to take place on July 16-31, are making their final preparations before leaving for China. Romania will be represented in the water polo, swimming and water jumping competitions.
Istvan Kovacs, head coach of the Romanian water polo team, stated that his team’s goal is to qualify for the Olympic Games in London. “From my point of view I want us to win all our games at the World Swimming Championships in China. Our team consists of seven new players and six players from the former line-up. Although we are not top favorites I want us to get in the water determined to win,” the Hungarian head coach stated.
The Romanian water polo team will play its first game against Australia (July 18), then against Serbia (July 20) and China (July 22). South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Spain and the United States will also take part in the competition.
Romania’s Camelia Potec, already training in China, and Dragos Agache, who will leave for Shanghai around July 20, will compete in the swimming events scheduled on July 24-31.
Mara Aiacoboae and Corina Popovici, already present in Shanghai, will represent Romania in the water jumping events scheduled on July 16-24.
181 countries, a record number, will take part in the 14th edition of the World Swimming Championships. The previous record was set in Rome in 2009 (172 countries). Nevertheless, only 2,220 athletes will take part in the competition in Shanghai. In contrast, 2,438 athletes took part in the World Championships in Rome.
40 swimming finals, 10 water jumping finals, 7 synchronous swimming finals (July 17-23), 6 open water swimming finals (July 19-23) and two water polo finals will take place during the 16 days.
