The almost unwieldy nature of the tournament means six groups were utilised across two venues and teams have been sorted into two levels — the Gold/Platinum Group and the Silver Group. The top 16 nations are still in the hunt for the major medals, while the Silver Group contains the nine lower-ranked nations who will do battle for their own medals.

Photos courtesy of studioSilentBlue Creative Photography

The group winners all came from Europe — Montenegro, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta, Hungary and Serbia. Second-ranked nations not from Europe are Australia, Brazil, Egypt and United States of America.

The Round of 16 will be played on Wednesday to find the quarter-finalists and these include some interesting match-ups, most notably Malta-Turkey and Montenegro-Japan. All eight matches will be played in the outdoor venue.

In the Silver Group, the competition will be equally fierce as the teams jostle for positions 17-25. There will be six matches played in the indoor venue.

The girls' competition in nearby Larissa will close its preliminary rounds on Wednesday.

Results:

Day 1:
Preliminary Round 1:
Group A: Montenegro 22 Latvia 2 (8-0, 4-1, 4-1, 6-0). 
Group B: Croatia 34 Azerbaijan 2 (8-0, 8-1, 10-0, 8-1).
Group C: Spain 20 Poland 4 (4-1, 4-1, 6-2, 6-0).
Group D: Georgia 14 Switzerland 2 (3-0, 2-2, 6-0, 3-0), Greece 18 Japan 7 (2-2, 3-3, 7-0, 6-2).
Group E: Italy 22 Ukraine 2 (3-0, 5-2, 7-0, 7-0).
Group F: USA 7 Malta 10 (3-1, 2-2, 1-3, 1-4).
Group G: Hungary 11 Turkey 9 (4-1, 1-2, 3-3, 3-3).
Group H: Serbia 10 Germany 4 (3-2, 1-0, 2-1, 4-1).

Day 2:
Preliminary Round 2:
Group A: Montenegro 14 Australia 12 (3-4, 2-3, 4-2, 5-3).
Group B: Slovenia 17 Azerbaijan 3 (3-1, 6-0, 4-1, 4-1).
Group C: Spain 14 Brazil 10 (5-1, 3-1, 4-5, 2-3).
Group D: Japan 14 Georgia 9 (4-2, 2-4, 3-2, 5-1), Greece 21 Switzerland 4 (6-0, 7-2, 4-1, 4-1).
Group E: Italy 7 Egypt 5 (2-2, 1-1, 2-1, 2-1).
Group F: Kazakhstan 3 Malta 13 (0-3, 1-3, 0-4, 2-3).
Group G: Hungary 25 South Africa 3 (5-0, 8-1, 7-1, 5-1).
Group H: Germany 16 Portugal 2 (6-1, 4-0, 3-1, 3-0).

Day 3:
Preliminary Round 3:
Group A: Australia 25 Latvia 3 (4-1, 10-0, 7-1, 4-1).
Group B: Croatia 20 Slovenia 2 (6-1, 6-0, 4-1, 4-0).
Group C: Brazil 8 Poland 6 (3-2, 1-2, 3-0, 1-2).
Group D: Switzerland 3 Japan 19 (1-6, 1-5, 0-3, 1-5), Georgia 5 Greece 12 (2-3, 0-2, 03, 3-4).
Group E: Egypt 7 Ukraine 7 (3-2, 4-0, 0-3, 0-2).
Group F: USA 12 Kazakhstan 8 (3-2, 4-1, 2-3, 3-2).
Group G: South Africa 3 Turkey 14 (1-3, 0-4, 0-3, 2-4).
Group H: Portugal 2 Serbia 16 (0-6, 0-4, 1-4, 1-2).

Final points/rankings:
Group A: Montenegro 4, Australia 2, Latvia 0.
Group B: Croatia 4, Slovenia 2, Azerbaijan 0.
Group C: Spain 4, Brazil 2, Poland 0.
Group D: Greece 6, Japan 4, Georgia 2, Switzerland 0.
Group E: Italy 4, Spain 1, Ukraine 1.
Group F: Malta 4, USA 2, Kazakhstan 0.
Group G: Hungary 4, Turkey 2, South Africa 0.
Group H: Serbia 4, Germany 2, Portugal 0.

Wednesday Programme:

Gold/Platinum
Volos Outdoor Pool
09:00 Montenegro v Japan
10:15 Slovenia v Spain
11:30 Brazil v Croatia
16:45 United States of America v Hungary
18:00 Malta v Turkey
19:15 Egypt v Serbia
20:30 Australia v Greece
Silver
Nea Ionia Indoor Pool
09:00 Poland v Georgia
10:15 Azerbaijan v Switzerland
11:30 South Africa v Portugal
12:45 Ukraine v Kazakhstan
16:45 Switzerland v Poland
18:00 Latvia v Azerbaijan