Greece won the gold medal in the Women’s Water Polo World Cup after defeating Hungary 13-9 in the final in Chengdu, China, on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025.
The Greek team coached by Charis Pavlidis played excellent polo for most of the match, had plurality in attack and “rookie” goalkeeper Alexia Tzourka made 13 saves. Elena Xenaki was named the tournament’s MVP.
Arriving in Athens on Easter Monday and speaking to state broadcaster ERT, some of the athletes spoke about their victory.
Athena Giannopoulou emphasized, “we have been trying for a gold medal for a very long time and I am very proud that we managed to beat the other teams, even in this tournament. As Mr. Haris [the coach] said, these seven teams are very close. One day one may win, one day the other may win, so the example we showed is positive.”
On her part, Phoebe Angelidi stated “for me it is the first medal with the women’s team. I am very happy. It’s not that I believed it, I hadn’t thought about it. I was thinking step by step. First we had the game with Italy, then the game with the Netherlands. I hadn’t thought that we would get there. I hadn’t thought that we would get there, but I had never thought that we wouldn’t get there, so it kind of came by itself.”
When asked if the World Championship is among the immediate goals, coach Haris Pavlidis replied, “Of course, it is the big event of the year, all the teams are aiming for this championship. We will have more training time, therefore more preparation. I think that this gold medal we won creates expectations for the next championship. So we are obliged to give our best.”
We are proud of the Greek National Women’s Water Polo team and their coach.