Kuwait men made their intentions clear with an emphatic 21-11 victory over Venezuela on the opening day of the FINA Challengers’ Cup water polo event in Barranquilla, Colombia on Tuesday.

Kuwait won the tournament, known as the Development Trophy in 2009, and this year could be the first double winner of the event that morphed into the Challengers’ Cup.

In the other men’s encounter, Colombia trampled Puerto Rico 16-8 with four dominant quarters.

In women’s competition, seen at this level for the first time, Colombia beat Puerto Rico 11-8 and Thailand downed Venezuela 17-9.

Kuwait men provided the power in the pool, looking stronger, fiercely pummelling the goal whenever it had the opportunity. Kuwait contains two players from the world junior championships in Kuwait City two years ago — Abdullah Jasem (one goal) and Saud Alotaibi (three goals) — while older players provided raw power, threatening to take out the title.

Kuwait opened with a counter-attack lob and finished the period 5-2 up with another counter goal.

Three quick goals at the start of the second period opened the margin to 7-3, something Venezuela could never bridge. By halftime it was 12-5, finishing with two more on counter. Three more quick goals, including two lobs, had Kuwait at 15-5 early in the third and by the final break, the gap was 18-10. This became 20-10 and Venezuela netted the last with a centre-forward lob for 21-11.

Alexander Morey was the highest scorer with six goals for Venezuela while Mohammad  Alrumaidhin netted a goal in each quarter for Kuwait.

The second men’s match had Colombia at 6-3 up at the first break, 9-5 ahead at halftime and 12-7 by the final break. The ninth goal came from 10 metres out by Nelson Bejarno and the final score came from Gilberto Millan (PUR) with a six-metre, free throw blast for 16-8 for his third of the match, eight seconds from time. Bejarno netted six goals, three in the opening quarter.

The women’s teams were evenly matched with Puerto Rico and Colombia level at 7-7 heading into the final quarter and only two goals separating Thailand and Venezuela at halftime in their clash.

Puerto Rico could feel hard done by, winning the first quarter 4-1, before losing the others 2-3, 1-3 and 1-4. Puerto Rico needed a penalty strike to level at seven and then had to level at eight with a conversion of extra-man attack. Three late goals from Colombia put the seal on the match. Susan Atehortua top-scored with three goals for Colombia with three Puerto Ricans netting twice — Delianni Rivera, Melina Guzman and Frances Vega.

Puerto Rico has made infrequent trips to FINA women’s events, lastly appearing at the 2017 Melbourne FINA World Championships. It also competed in the 1988 FINA World Cup in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Thailand came from two goals down to win the first quarter 5-3, had the margin reduced to two at halftime and blasted in a 6-1 third period despite twice missing consecutive counter-attack chances when three ahead. A close final quarter was thanks to a buzzer-beating lob by Venezuela for 17-9. Chayanan Pihramyoo scored six goals with four in the opening period and two in the third for Thailand. Samantha Torres (VEN) scored four.

The biggest match of day two will be the Thailand-Colombia women’s match, pitting two unbeaten teams.

Tuesday results:
Men: Venezuela 11 Kuwait 21 (2-5, 3-7, 5-6, 1-3), Colombia 16 Puerto Rico 8 ( 6-3, 3-2, 3-2, 4-1).
Women: Puerto Rico 8 Colombia 11 (4-1, 2-3, 1-3, 1-4), Thailand 17 Venezuela 9 (5-3, 3-3, 6-1, 3-2).

Progress points:
Men: Kuwait 2, Colombia 2, Puerto Rico 0, Venezuela 0.
Women: Thailand 2, Colombia 2, Puerto Rico 0, Venezuela 0.

Wednesday schedule:
14:00, W, Venezuela v Puerto Rico
15:30, W, Colombia v Thailand
17:00, M, Kuwait v Puerto Rico
18:30, M, Colombia v Venezuela