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(Beijing, March 22) The draw for the 2008 Olympic water polo competition was made at Swissotel Beijing today. As a result, hosts Chinese men's and women's teams that had qualified directly for the Olympic Games fell into Group B and Group A respectively.
On the women's side, Group A consisting of China and three world top teams may be described as a death group. The three strong teams are the United States, winners of the 2007 World Championships and 2000 Olympic Games; Russia, bronze medalists of the 2007 World Championships and 2004 Olympics; and Italy, Olympic champions at Athens 2004.
Group B is made up of Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands and Australia, runners-up of the 2007 World Championships.
On the men's side, China was lucky to be drawn into Group B together with the less strong German and US teams, while Serbia, Croatia and Italy rank among the world top six.
Group A consists of Spain, Australia, Hungary, Montenegro, Greece and Canada.
Speaking of China's being drawn into the death group, Pan Shenghua, head coach of the Chinese women's team, had this to say, "All participating teams are strong, and we are faced with a grave situation in qualifying for the next round. We have no choice but to go all out to get into the top six. We will not give up until the last moment."
Wang Minhui, head coach of the Chinese men's team, did not seem so confident. "Our chances are slim, as all the other five teams are much stronger than us. We pin our hopes on the ranking round and hope to meet a relatively weak team from the other group."
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