The final, fifth, round of the Ukrainian Super League men’s water polo championship has ended in Lviv. The competition took place on May 24-26 in the swimming pool of the Summer Sports Training Center of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
Water Poloclub Dynamo Lviv is the champion of Ukraine, NTU KhPI-SVSM and KIVS Lions are in the top three.
“I would like to thank all the teams for this championship, especially those near the front line. Kharkiv and Mariupol, who have difficulty training, who do not have bases. Kyiv, where many guys are defending the country. Thank you for your participation and fight. Of course, I congratulate FC Dynamo Lviv on the championship. The guys are great, they showed a great game,” said Oleksandr Svishchov, President of the Ukrainian Water Polo Federation.
“I would like to congratulate Dynamo. Unfortunately, there was no intrigue, because there is a big difference in the teams’ qualifications and the quality of the game. So far, no one can compete with Dynamo. As for the second and third places, it was very, very interesting, emotional, we watched all the matches. It was nice to see new Lviv teams play – Aquatico and KIVS,” said Mykola Smirnov, Vice President of the Ukrainian Water Polo Federation.
“Emotions are overwhelming, and I breathed a sigh of relief. We’ve done a lot of work and we’ve overcome a certain stage, we’ve learned a lot. I am grateful to the fans, officials and guys. Thank you for all the matches and victories. I am also extremely grateful to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for allowing us to compete,” says Oleksiy Shvedov, head coach of Water Poloclub Dynamo Lviv.
“For a debut season, we had a good result, but of course we wanted to do better. We’ve been swinging a bit throughout the season, but that’s what sport is all about – being unpredictable. Today’s game showed our level. In general, we have to play like this with all teams and try to put Dynamo in a fight. We have the level, we have good players, we have the data, we have the talent. The main thing is practice, and everything will be fine,” said Oleksandr Tsvirkun, head coach of the Lions Club (Lviv).
According to the results of the championship, the teams took the following places:
1. Water Poloclub Dynamo Lviv
2. NTU “KhPI-SVSM” (Kharkiv)
3. “KIVS Lions (Lviv) 3.
4. SFSM of the Mariupol Military Industrial Complex
5. “LFKS-Aquatico (Lviv)
6. The team of Transcarpathian region-UzhNU
7. The national team of Kharkiv region
8. Kyiv national team.
“I am certainly pleased that Dynamo Lviv became the champion of Ukraine. I would like to congratulate the players and coaching staff on this. I would also like to recognize the teams from Kharkiv and Mariupol. We understand the emotions they played with, their morale and how much strength they need to find in themselves to play water polo and find the energy to fight,” said Rostyslav Tistyk, MP of Ukraine.
They won individual awards:
- Best Goalkeeper – Nestor Babskyi, LFC-Aquatico (Lviv)
- Best defender – Oleksandr Abramov, NTU “KhPI-SVSM” (Kharkiv)
- The best mobile striker – Vyacheslav Skrypnyk, Kharkiv region team
- The best striker – Yarema Artsyshevsky, FC Dynamo Lviv
- Best Player – Konstantin Alekseev, Water Poloclub Dynamo Lviv
- Best player under 18 – Oleksandr Rychun, LFKS-Aquatico (Lviv)
- Top scorer – Danylo Sokolov, Water Poloclub Dynamo Lviv
“It is a pleasure to see the spectators in the stands. I am grateful to our Armed Forces, our defenders for being able to hold the championship final in Lviv. I thank everyone who is winning today, and I congratulate Dynamo on winning the championship. I am proud that the champion is from Lviv region,” said Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration.
“My congratulations to the players, the coaching staff and the club management. I am pleased that young players have joined the team quite organically. I am confident that when the war ends with our victory, we will be a worthy competitor in the European arena,” said Roman Khimyak, Head of the Youth and Sports Department of the Lviv Regional Military Administration.
“Today, all teams are on the same page. And when we watched the match where Lviv played Kharkiv, our emotions were such that we were rooting for Lviv, but we were very supportive of Kharkiv because of the difficult situation with active attacks.
First Deputy Mayor of Lviv Andriy Moskalenko and President of the Water Polo Federation of Ukraine Oleksandr Svishchov
Although we are all competing, we are competing for one thing: to become stronger. We are very happy for our team, we are rooting for them. But we are keeping our fingers crossed for everyone, for one great common desire – to win,” said Andriy Moskalenko, First Deputy Mayor of Lviv.
