HISTORY OF WATER POLO IN LATVIA

1900

THE BIRTH OF WATER POLO

The origins of water polo can be traced back to the 19th century in England and Scotland. At that time, people demonstrated their strength and swimming skills with its help.

Water polo became an Olympic sport already in 1900 at the Paris Olympics and was one of the first Olympic team sports. Women's water polo debuted in the Olympic tournament exactly 100 years later - in 2000. Today, water polo is a popular sport in the world, especially in Europe (Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Montenegro, Greece, Russia), USA and Australia.

IN THE YEARS 1930-1940

IN LATVIA

The history of Latvian water polo begins in the 1930s, when there were several water polo clubs operating in Latvia, which trained in the open waters of Lake Ķeizarmežs and the river Daugava, as evidenced by historical pictures from the private collection of Aivars Kalnakārklis.

"WATER POLO IN DAUGAVA"

JĀNIS ALSBERGS

At that time, a work of art by a Latvian author dedicated to Latvian water polo was even created "Water Polo in the Daugava", Jānis Alsbergs, 1934.

IN THE YEARS 1950-1960

IN LATVIA

In the 1950s and 1960s, Latvian water polo players played in USSR and international competitions. The owner of these historical pictures, second-generation water polo player Aivars Kalnakārklis took part in the teams.

The last testimony about Latvian water polo activities at that time refers to the year 1967. It is considered that since then water polo did not exist in Latvia until 2011.

2011 - 2014

REVIVAL IN LATVIA

In 2011, the first modern Latvian water polo team was actually re-established and started training in Riga. Basically it consisted of active and former swimmers of various ages. The team trained in the RTU Ķipsala swimming pool in Riga, in the summer in the open water of Ādažu Vējupe. The team played its first competition in Lithuania, in a friendly match in Alytus against the ASRC youth team of that city. In the following 3 years, several friendly tournaments were played with the teams of neighboring countries Lithuania, Estonia and Belarus.

YEARS 2014 - 2015

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

In 2014, Latvia was officially entered for the first time for the qualification tournament of the 2016 European Championship, which took place in two rounds - in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and Astrakhan, Russia. With a devastating sports result, Latvian athletes gained their first experience in the European arena. This can be considered a turning point, with which the purposeful many years of work on the establishment and development of children's and youth water polo in Latvia began.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Men%27s_European_Water_Polo_Championship_Qualifiers