We catch up with GBR centre-forward Jordan Elliot at the 2019 FISU World Uni Games in Naples - July 8, 2019

After a  successful domestic season with Solihull, powerful centre forward Jordan Elliot is now starring on the international stage with Great Britain at the World University Games in Naples, Italy.

“It’s always a huge honour to represent your country and the Universiade is a fantastic event to be involved in,” says Jordan, 21, who was also a key member of the Great Britain squad that defied the odds to finish eighth at the Taipei Games two years ago.

“This tournament feels very different to Taipei as I was one of the youngest players on the team in 2017, but it was great experience and I’m using that to help me and the rest of the lads here as I’m now one of the oldest.”

In the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that dominates the Naples skyline, Great Britain have already battled in the pool against the likes of water polo giants USA and Russia.

“We have played some really fierce competition so far – Russia, USA, South Korea and France,” says Jordan. “All of those nations award massive amounts of funding to their water polo programmes, so that level of support obviously gives them a huge advantage over Great Britain.

“But we arrived in Italy hoping to secure another top-eight finish at these Games and that’s still achievable as we head into the classification rounds.”

Following defeats against Russia (25-1), USA (17-3) and France (15-9), and an impressive victory over South Korea (17-9), confidence remains high among Tim Dunsbee’s young squad as they have displayed great improvement with each game.

“I think this team has progressed significantly and the recent EU Nations helped considerably,’ adds Jordan, who is used to competing against the world’s top players having spent summers training in Croatia and Hungary. ‘We used the competition in Brno to experiment with our tactics and train together in a tournament environment. It was invaluable.

“Before flying here we focused largely on building up our fitness levels and our ability to handle one-on one-situations, as these were areas we struggled with at the previous 2017 Summer Universiade.

“Tim has also been working hard on our defence as we knew the high standard of the teams we would face here, and when we played the USA I think all that training showed. We fought together as a team and produced a fantastic first half to keep the score down to 5-2.

“Now the preliminary stage is over, we’re really looking forward to the next round and remain hopeful of finishing in the top-eight again.”

With thanks to Alice Reeves-Turner

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