Great Britain’s under-17 water polo girls touched down in Azerbaijan today ahead of the inaugural Baku 2015 European Games. Head coach Nick Buller and his squad now have three full days of preparation before their opening Group A clash against reigning champions Greece on Friday.

The water polo tournament is scheduled for 12-21 June. As well as Greece, Great Britain have been drawn alongside Netherlands, Hungary, Germany and Israel, while Group B consists of France, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, Russia and Spain. The top three teams from each group will progress to the knockout medal stages and the remaining sides will play crossover classification games.

“With no funding, we’ve faced a lot of challenges to be here, but this team has great spirit and the girls deserve their place at the top table of international water polo,” added Buller. “Some of my team are also in the middle of their exams, so we’ve had to schedule training around revision and a few players are even having to sit exams out here at the British Embassy.

“Teams like Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia and Greece all have well-funded professional set-ups and they are in a league of their own. Our approach is very much to be the best of the rest, but a finish anywhere in the top 10 would be a great achievement.”

GB's first game is vs Greece on Friday 12th June @9:45am. Good Luck girls.

Credit – www.swimming.org/waterpolo