While the top 8 teams battle in the World Cup Division 1 in Alexandroupolis, 23 nations have started competing in the Division 2 in Malta.
During the first three days, they will play in the group phase, and after that, the top 16 will advance to the knockout round. The top two nations will qualify for the Final Eight in Sydney, along with Australia, which is already qualified as the host.
In the group phase, each team will compete against a mix of higher and similarly ranked opponents. The pairs were determined by the draw, but participants were seeded in the pots according to the World Aquatics World Rankings.
A new system is used to determine the standings in the Group Phase.
Points are awarded based on the World Aquatics Tournament Performance Index (TPI) ranking system. The TPI uses formulas to calculate each result’s value, considering several factors, including the goal difference and the strengths of the teams, as determined by their positions in the World Aquatics Rankings.
After Day 1, the Neutral Athletes team (Russia) is atop the table, thanks to a 10:7 over Brazil.
That was one of the narrowest wins of the day, but Neutral Athletes earned 90,4 points.
The Russians didn’t play a single match between 2021 and the tournament in Malta. Therefore, they are not present in the World Rankings. According to the rules, the participating teams that had no points and were not ranked on the WA list before the tournament (Neutral Athletes, Poland, and Singapore) were placed in last position, and entered the World Cup Division 2 sharing 21st-23rd place.
Brazil ranks 9th in the World Rankings and 2nd among teams competing in Division 2. The big difference in the pre-tournament rankings is a reason why Neutral Athletes gained a lot of points for their first win.
Another example of the system in action is the biggest win of the day. Montenegro defeated Kazakhstan 27:6, but it got fewer points than Russia – 82,2 – as the Montenegrins are in 8th, and the Kazakhs hold 36th place in the WA Rankings. Only Great Britain, Neutral Athletes, Poland, and Hong Kong were behind Kazakhstan in the pre-tournament rankings.
Even though Kazakhstan suffered a very convincing loss, it earned 19 TPI points more than Brazil.
Portugal, like Neutral Athletes, collected a lot of points on Day 1, beating South Africa 27:5. The Portuguese are 29th in the WA Rankings, seven places lower than South Africa.
The most exciting game of the day was a European derby. Turkiye’s surprised Georgia with a 17:16 victory.
The points won’t be accumulated. The final standings before the knockout round will be determined by the average of the points each team collects across the group stage. Twenty teams will have three games in the first phase, and Germany, Slovakia and Poland will play only two matches in the first three days. Their rival was supposed to be Japan, among others. However, the Japanese withdrew after the draw.
Day 1, results
China – Great Britain 17:8
Georgia – Turkiye 16:17
Germany – Slovenia 22:15
Argentina – Hong Kong 26:6
France – Ukraine 27:13
Romania – Slovakia 14:9
Canada – Singapore 18:7
South Africa – Portugal 7:25
Brazil – Neutral Athletes 7:10
Montenegro – Kazakhstan 27:6
Australia – Malta 15:12
Poland bye, because Japan withdrew
Standings
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
