On day 5 of the men's World League prelims both group leaders and last year's finalists Hungary and Serbia will be looking to close out the battle for the top spot in their groups, and therewith Super Final qualification by posting yet another win which would more or less mean ensuring their participation in the final tournament in Bergamo, Italy. Hungary, coming off a win in the self-hosted annual Volvo Cup tournament in Budapest, travel to Kosice, Slovakia taking on the last placed Slovakia side. All match-ups on Tuesday serve as returns of previous meetings these prelims with Hungary having defeated Slovakia 13-6 in Debrecen on day 1. Meanwhile in group B reigning champions Serbia take on Spain in Madrid with, for the first time this campaign, the same roster as the one that won the gold medal at the 2014 European championships in Budapest. There Serbia posted a pival 8-6 win over Spain in the final group stage match in order to advance to the tournament's play-off phase. However in a more recent meeting Spain was outplayed in Nis, Serbia in front of a capacity crowd suffering a 9-1 loss on day 1 of this year's World League. At home in the 1986 World championships pool the Spanish side will now their shot at revanche for that big loss when the teams square off on Tuesday.
Elsewhere Greece face Romania in Bucharest in an attempt to stay close to Hungary in the group A rankings. Russia will try to do the same as they visit Stuttgart, Germany taking on the last placed squad in group B. And in group C both Montenegro and Italy are looking to consolidate their positions behind leaders Croatia when playing France and Turkey respectively. The Turkish side beat France 9-7 in a recent postponed match-up in Istanbul and find themselves trailing both favourites just 1 and 2 points on the table.
Day 5 - Tuesday 17 February, 2015
17.30: Romania vs. Greece (in Bucharest, Romania)
18.00: Slovakia vs. Hungary (in Kosice, Slovakia)
19.00: Spain vs. Serbia (in Madrid, Spain)
19.00: Montenegro vs. France (in Budva, Montenegro)
19.30: Germany vs. Russia (in Stuttgart, Germany)
21.00: Turkey vs. Italy (in Istanbul, Turkey)
The current standings are now as follows:
Group A
1. Hungary 3 - 9 pts
2. Greece 3 - 6
3. Romania 3 - 2
4. Slovakia 3 - 1
Group B
1. Serbia 3 - 9 pts
2. Russia 3 - 6
3. Spain 3 - 3
4. Germany 3 - 0
Group C
1. Croatia 4 - 12 pts
2. Italy 3 - 5
3. Montenegro 3 - 4
4. Turkey 3 - 3
5. France 3 - 0
Day 6
Thursday, 19 February, 2015
20.00: Italy vs. France (in Lodi, Italy)
Friday, 20 February, 2015:
21.00: Turkey vs. Croatia (in Istanbul, Turkey)
N.b.: times mentioned are local time.
Men's World League Super Final
Bergamo, Italy
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