“Training matches will be even more difficult in 2024” – coach of the Russian national water polo team

The head coach of the Russian national water polo team, Andrei Belofastov, told that in 2024 it will be even more difficult to organize training matches with other teams.

Russian water polo players have been suspended from participating in international competitions under the auspices of World Aquatics due to the situation in Ukraine.

– We had a busy summer – in June we had a training camp in Turkey, played with their team, the Romanians, then trained and played with the Chinese, then met in September in Krugloy for a week. Now we have a championship, Super League matches every week, then we will meet in December with all the candidates for the national team. Some training camps are included in the plan for next year, but it is difficult to talk about sparring now – there are both the World Championships and the Olympics. There is almost no time to practice with teams that would be interesting.

It’s good that we managed to play with different teams this season and thank you to the federation and the Ministry of Sports for supporting us in this, but next season it will be even more difficult. This is why it is very difficult to talk about anything in particular. We are in contact with the Chinese, they did not make it to the Olympic Games, their coach who worked with them in recent years died, they are now in a transition period. We hope for the Friendship Games; at the BRICS Games, as I understand it, there will be no water polo. It’s very, very difficult without match training,” Belofastov told .