Great Britain beat Czechs to claim Euro Nations Trophy

GREAT Britain have won the LEN European Nations Water Polo Trophy after a tense and close fought final encounter with the Czech Republic in Manchester.

NEXT STEP: Great Britain's victory puts them in a play-off for a place in the 2011 European 'A' Championships next January (gbswimstars.com)

The result was in doubt until the closing minutes but goals from Francesca Clayton, Hannah Wild and Fiona McCann settled nerves and despite a brief rally from the Czech Republic, the hosts hung on to a deserved 9-7 win.

  
"We've done what we came here to do and we're so happy about that," said British goalkeeper Rosie Morris.
 
"All of the girls played really well and everyone scored at some point during the tournament apart from me and our other keeper Robyn Nicholls, which just shows you the strength of the team."

British Swimming will hope the victory helps secure additional funding for water polo, after UK Sport slashed the grant awarded to the sport by 75 per-cent last year.

"The whole team played at another level to the other teams in the tournament," said chief executive David Sparkes.

"The challenge now is to work hard to take on the much more daunting task of qualifying for the European A Championships in 2011.
 
"The team have now shown what they can do and we will renew our efforts to find the missing funding for them."

Meanwhile, the Ukraine beat Slovakia 6-3 to win the third place play-off.

 * The nation's leading energy supplier, British Gas is the Principal Partner of British Swimming, supporting the sport at all levels: 'From paddling pool to podium'. For more information visit www.britishswimming.org