14 December 2002 09:47
WPOLO: Lack of funding "causing players to quit"
PERTH, Dec 14 AAP - Australia's Olympic champion women's water polo team is losing its best talent because
of a lack of money for players since the Sydney 2000 Olympics, said national coach Istvan Gorgenyi. After being
unceremoniously dumped out of the World Cup in Perth last night, Gorgenyi said Olympic hero Yvette Higgins quit the
sport a couple of months ago because she could not afford to continue playing. Higgins was the player who scored
possibly the most famous goal ever in women's water polo, to win the Olympic final against the USA with less than
two seconds of the match remaining. After being completely outplayed last night by Canada, Gorgenyi said since the
limelight of the Sydney Olympics had faded so had personal government funding for top players - causing some of them to
quit the sport. "The girls have personally not had any other financial support since the Olympics and it has
created a major problem," Gorgenyi said. "They have to work to support themselves, plus train 24 hours a week.
We have lost Yvette Higgins this year because of this financial dilemma." Captain Naomi Castle is one of the few
players who enjoys a sponsorship deal - but says the rest of the team is finding it hard. "It is an unbelievable
sacrifice for the girls and besides myself, as I am sponsored by Queensland Railway, the girls are struggling
financially." Gorgenyi said the sport itself still receives significant financial support from the government, but
called for a return to the centralised training programme which enabled the team to permanently live and train in the
same state. Ironically, this type of programme has been copied by the other top teams in the world, but has been
abandoned by Australia since the Olympics. "Leading up to Athens (Olympics 2004) the solution to our problems would
be to have the girls come together in a centralised program, with the girls gaining more experience together,"
Gorgenyi said. "But we don't have the funding for the centralised program, despite the great assistance we
receive from the Australian Institute of Sport and the Australian Sports Commission." Australia have won just one
match at the World Cup in Perth, against outsiders Kazakhstan, and have scored the least amount of goals of any of the
teams except the Kazakhstani's. The women face a 5th/6th place play off against a strong Italian side today, which
if they lose, will leave them at their lowest ever placing at a World Cup. The United States and Canada will contest an
all north-American semi final, followed by a European showdown between Russia and Hungary in the second semi-final. AAP
str/pc
[AIW [Asia Africa Intelligence Wire]] |
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