‘Heartbreaking’ for Joe

Date published: 16 December 2014


Water polo by BEN REESE

OLDHAM Olympian Joe O’Regan fears for the future of his sport as he told the Chronicle: “This could be the end for the Great Britain men’s water polo team.”

The 23-year-old from Royton, who represented his country in the 2012 London Games, is playing his league water polo for City of Manchester in the Super Fives competition.

But he dreads he may never feature on the international stage again.

Great Britain failed to qualify for the European Championships in March. They lost their qualifier 36-15 on aggregate to Romania — and have not played since.

“We haven’t even got any Great Britain games scheduled. The team gets no funding and a lot of us feel this is the end of the road,” said O’Regan, who first took up the sport at the age of 13.

That defeat to Romania prompted James Ross — respected as one of the top coaches in the sport — to predict the team has no future.

“I don’t think there is any chance of the men competing in Brazil (at the 2016 Olympics),” Ross said.
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