The men’s water polo crossovers saw eight teams battle for quarterfinal berths at the OCBC Aquatic Centre on Friday, with Serbia defeating Japan 21-14, Hungary holding off Romania 15-11, Greece bypassing Brazil 17-5 and Montenegro getting past Canada 22-10 In the classification 13-16 semifinals, Australia hammered South Africa 27-4 and China trounced Singapore 21-8.
Day 10 Schedule
Classification 15-16
Match 31. 09:00. South Africa v Singapore
Classification 13-14
Match 32. 10:35. Australia v China
Classification 9-12 Semifinals
Match 33. 12:10. Japan v Brazil
Match 34. 13:45. Romania v Canada
Classification 1-8 Quarterfinals
Match 35. 16:00. Italy v Greece
Match 36. 17:35. Spain v Montenegro
Match 37. 19:10. United States of America v Serbia
Match 38. 20:45. Croatia v Hungary
Match Reports
Crossovers (Winners To Quarterfinals)
Match 30, CANADA 10 MONTENEGRO 22 (3-7, 0-5, 4-5, 3-5)
Montenegro found some resistance from Canada early on, but by quarter time held a 7-3 advantage, which became 12-3 at halftime and onwards to victory from there. Canada was a thorn in Montenegro’s side, but the Balkans managed to pluck that out and steered a path toward the quarterfinals. There were some sublime shots from the Montenegrins and they turned it on for the small crowd who stuck it out for the last match of the night. Canada opened through Jeremie Coté in 23 seconds and missed a penalty chance to go 2-1 ahead. However, Montenegro went 3-1, resisted Jason O’Donnell’s outside shooting power and bolted to 7-2 with Aria Soleimanipak responding from deep left, nine seconds from the first break for 7-3. Filip Gardasevic grabbed his second and third goals at the top of the second period, interrupted by an Aljosa Macic goal. Savo Cetkovic scored on counter and Strahinja Gojkovic converted a penalty for 12-3 at halftime.
David Lapins gave some relief to Canada after a near 10-minute drought, scoring from the left post after a cross pass from the right. Dimitrii Kholod nailed a penalty goal with O’Donnell again sending in a missile. Kholod and Duro Radovic, on counter, moved the score to 15-5. O’Donnell and Cetkovic (backhand from two metres) swapped goals with the latter scoring again from two metres and Reuel D’Souza drilling from the top for 17-7.
The final quarter contained plenty of action befitting these two teams. Montenegro went out to 19-7 and then goals were traded all the way to 22-10 with D’Souza grabbing two of those three Canadian goals. Gardasevic also scored twice and Cetkovic ended his wonderful match with the last goal from centre forward.
Match Heroes
Gardasevic topped all scorers with five goals for Montenegro. Cetkovic nabbed four and Gojkovic three. For Canada, O’Donnell and D’Souza both had triples. Brody McKnight dragged down nine saves in his three quarters in goal.
Turning Point
Montenegro going from 3-2 to 7-2 in the first quarter.
Stats Don’t Lie
Montenegro converted one from two on extra and defended four from nine. It scored three penalty goals to the one missed attempt by Canada. Montenegro stole the ball seven to three and took 44 shots to 29.
Bottom Line
Montenegro was fifth at this year’s World Cup and is looking to improve on its eighth-place at last year’s World Championships in Doha and at Fukuoka before that. This was a clash of professionals and the amateur Canadians who had to pay their way to Singapore from fundraising.
What He Said
Petar TESANOVIC (MNE) — Captain
On the result:
“We can be happy about this performance. Maybe we didn’t enter the match well in the first few minutes, but the good thing is that we managed to score a lot of goals – more than 20 goals today – so this will be a good confidence boost for our quarterfinal match.
“We are consisting of many younger players, so maybe at the beginning, we felt a bit of pressure. Many guys are playing their first elimination games of a competition, but we managed to quickly wake up and build a nice advantage.
“The team did really well in attack today, but we will need to improve in defence. We are playing against one of the best teams in water polo, which is Spain, so we will need to be at our top level in order to be in the game and try to beat them.
On representing Montenegro, with a population of about 617,000, at the World Aquatics Championships:
“It means a lot to be here, especially because water polo is played in only three cities in Montenegro, so the base is even smaller – something like 80,000 or 100,000 people.
“It’s one of the most important sports in Montenegro, I would say definitely top three, and many people in our country are now watching it and I would like to say thank you for their support. We want to represent our country well and show that we are ambassadors of our country and introduce ourselves in the best possible way.”
Match 29, BRAZIL 5 GREECE 17 (0-2, 0-5, 4-5, 1-5)
Greece is the World Cup silver medallist from April and to think Brazil was going to do damage tonight was never on the cards. Greece also took out fifth place at the Doha World Championships and the Paris 2025 Olympic Games, so the pedigree is immense. Brazil struggled to find a way through but did well to limit Greece’s chances in both the first two quarters. Greece led by seven at the half with only Eftathios Kalogeropoulos scoring a double. He netted the first on extra in the first quarter and sent in the penalty to start the second quarter. The best shot of the match by halftime was Konstantinos Kakaris’ superb centre-forward turn and finish for 5-0. Aristeidis Chalyvopoulos snapped in a deep-right shot off a fast cross pass, one second from the buzzer.
The third quarter was a big change for Brazil, finding the cage four times to five. Luis Silva and Lucas Farias scored the first two Brazilian goals with Konstantinos Genidounias replying from the penalty line and Stylianos Argyropoulos scoring from the deep right for 9-2. Pedro Real lobbed from the left while Chalyvopoulos and Nikolaos Gkillas both shot in from the top left. Lucas Andrade sent in a penalty goal and Evangelos Pouros found the net from deep left before the last break. Kakaris whipped in a round-arm goal from centre forward to open the fourth quarter; Real replied from the top right and Genidounias converted extra at 5:32 for 14-5.
Match Heroes
Genidounias and Chalyvopoulos both scored three goals for Greece. Real made two for Brazil and goalkeeper Joao Fernandes took in 11 saves.
Turning Point
Greece going 7-0 in the first half.
Stats Don’t Lie
Greece converted four from five on extra to Brazil’s two from seven. Greece put away three of four penalty shots to Brazil’s one and made 12 steals to three and shot 38 to 25.
Bottom Line
Greece now has to beat group winner Italy to reach the semifinals while Brazil will go to the play-offs for 9-12.
What He Said
Konstantinos GENIDOUNIAS (GRE) — Captain and Player of the Match
On the match:
“I’m feeling all right, it was an all right game, not exactly the performance we wanted. But in these do-or-die games, it’s important to win. However, I know we can improve on both defence and offence. But it’s important we won and we’re looking forward to the quarterfinal against Italy.
“Even in the easier games, you have to bring the energy, you have to be excited to be here, and just by showing up, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to win. So even though we’re an experienced team, there are days like these when I’m sure we can be even better.”
On the quarterfinal against Italy:
“It’s going to be a very difficult one. We played Italy a bunch of times this summer and actually, the two times we played an official game, they beat us by six or seven goals. We know what’s coming and I think that’s an advantage for us, because we know what to expect. The same for Italy though, but I hope those losses motivate us even more. I don’t need to say that a quarterfinal needs more motivation but I think this hurt us, losing two games to Italy by so many goals and it’s extra motivation, extra anger; whatever we can use in this game is for our advantage.”
Match 28, ROMANIA 11 HUNGARY 15 (3-6, 3-2, 3-3, 2-4)
Daniel Angyal said it was not Hungary’s best match but looking forward to playing better in the quarterfinal and beyond after a torrid encounter with Romania who never gave up and took it up to Hungary for the entire match, only allowing the giants to score the last two goals for what was a flattering victory.
Hungary shot out of the box with the first three goals and it looked like Hungary was going to slaughter the neighbouring Romanians. However, Andrei Neamtu proved to be the touchstone for his country and his three goals dragged his team into the action. His goals, all on extra, were shaped around Hungarian goals with a second from Daniel Angyal, Gergely Burian and Vendel Vigvari on counter-attacks. Neamtu’s third came 52 seconds from the quarter buzzer. The second quarter was much tighter with Burian starting for Hungary and Vlad-Luca Georgescu scoring twice by 2:50. Romania called a timeout at 1:02 as Hungary was struggling to convert anything. Georgescu made the most of the break and converted the extra-man play to bring the match to within once. Hungary shot in the final half minute and a Romanian who took the rebound thought the time was almost up, tossed the ball the length of the pool to the Hungarian goalkeeper, who returned it and Adam Nagy scored six seconds from time and 8-6 up.
Romania would just not go away in the third period, levelled at three. Petar Kovacs on extra and Burian on action sent Hungary to a 10-6 margin. Romania challenged and gained a penalty shot, which Georgescu converted. Andrei Prioteasa made another for Romania and it was back to two behind. Francesco Iudean had a chance to make it one but had his penalty attempt rejected by Marton Mizsei and Nagy made it 11-8 at the other end. Georgescu rocketed in a shot from the top for 11-9 behind at 1:02, the score at the final break. Vismeg and Andrei Tepelus traded goals at the top of the fourth period and Hungarian captain Krisztian Manhercz rifled in shot from deep left on extra for another three-goal difference. Iudean and Kovacs traded and Georgescu had his penalty attempt denied by the incoming Kristof Csoma. Romania went to a timeout at 2:17 for no joy and Hungary called a timeout at 0:50 with the three-goal advantage. Vamos converted the extra man at 0:34 and Hungary was well and truly on its way to the quarterfinals, where it will meet world champion Croatia.
Match Heroes
Georgescu starred for Romania with his four goals and Neamtu was close behind with three while goalkeeper Marius-Florin Tic stopped nine shots. However, Hungary claimed the kudos with Burian the best shooter with three and pairs from Angyal, Nagy, Kovacs and Vismeg.
Turning Point
Hungary shooting to 6-2 and using that buffer for the rest of the match.
Stats Don’t Lie
The extra-man count was stunning with Romania converting eight from 10 and Hungary seven from 10. Romania suffered on penalties, missing two from three. Hungary stole the ball nine to seven and both teams were limited to 29 shots.
Bottom Line
Romania, as desperate as it was, could not get across the line while Hungary will need to improve if it wishes to make the semifinals.
What He Said
Kristof CSOMA (HUN) — Penalty Stopper
On the result:
“I’m really happy that we are in the quarterfinals. We expected a bit of an easier game, but we made lots of mistakes in both attack and defence. We were not focused enough. Now we have to watch the game and try to fix these problems because this is not going to be enough against Croatia.
“Congratulations to the Romanian team; they played much better than in the group stage but we are really happy about the victory.”
On what could be improved on:
“We had bad passes and we didn’t communicate well in defence. We had some misunderstandings, and this is what we have to fix, especially in man-down defence, because they could score from it a lot.
“We fought. This is all I think we did well. We didn’t give up. We felt this is not our game, but as a team, we were fighting till the end and this is what mattered at the end.”
On playing just the last four minutes of the match and making important saves:
“It’s always hard to jump in when you were on the bench for one hour. But I’m just always focusing on the next defence and what’s going to happen in the next few seconds. I’m really happy I could stay in the game because sometimes you can be there but you’re not focused and I was really happy I could remain focused.”
On his World Aquatics Championships debut:
“I was in Lithuania for one season in 2023 and before that I was in the Hungarian championship and I was a little bit down, that’s why I decided I need to go abroad and the Lithuanian club I went to, Zaibas, was a good option. I really like the guys; I really like the club. They were really professional and they helped me to come back in my role and be picked for the national team.
“Before this, I had a few games for the national team in 2018, but I couldn’t make it to a big championship like the World Championships or European Championships, so this is my first time. We played in the World Cup in December, January and April and we took the bronze medal, so I’m really happy for that. This was my first medal with the national team and I hope to collect another one.”
Match 27, SERBIA 21 JAPAN 14 (5-2, 4-3, 9-3, 3-6)
Olympic champion Serbia earned a face-off with Olympic bronze medallist United States of America in Sunday’s quarterfinals following a decisive victory over Japan in the crossovers. Serbia was never headed and controlled the match, despite the constant attentions of the Japanese. Japan was well in it in the first half, although Serbia scored the last three to give itself a healthy three-goal margin at the turn. Dorde Lazic scored twice, either side of Toi Suzuki’s equaliser. Yusuke Inaba played the captain’s role with the penalty goal for 2-2. Milos Cuk with a six-metre-foul shot; Viktor Rasovic on extra and Boris Vapenski from the top gave Serbia a 5-2 quarter-time margin. Mitsuru Takata and Dusan Mandic traded with Suzuki, who earlier left the pool with an apparent face injury, slotted one from the top on extra and Inaba blasted from the left side to draw within one at 3:21. Vapenski and Cuk, with another six-metre score, pushed it out to 8-5. Inaba had his second penalty attempt stopped by Radoslav Filipovic and at the other end, Cuk fired in his third on extra for 9-5 at halftime.
What a period the third was! Viktor Rasovic and Nikola Jaksic took it to 11-5 with Suzuki starting a mini trade of four goals to 13-7. It was then that Serbia asserted itself more with five unanswered goals with two to Vapenski at 17-7. Taiyo Watanabe converted a penalty for Japan and Strahinja Rasovic closed the period on counter for 18-8. Takata and Inaba on a counter cross pass, gave Japan double figures. Sava Randelovic knocked in his rebound off the left-post position and Strahinja Rasovic emulated his brother’s two goals for 20-10. Watanabe off a cross pass and two Daichi Ogihara goals boosted Japan’s tally with Vasilije Martinovic and Watanabe swapping goals in the last nine seconds finished the spectacle at 21-14.
Match Heroes
Vapenski with four goals and Cuk and Lazic with three each. The goalkeepers gained 12 saves with Filipovic pulling in 12. Watanabe, Inaba and Suzuki scored three each for Japan with the goalkeepers again on fire with Towa Nishimura grabbing eight and Ren Sasano six.
Turning Point
Serbia making 9-5 at the half and then having a 10-goal margin at the final break.
Stats Don’t Lie
Serbia converted eight from 11 on extra and Japan five from nine. Japan missed one of three penalty attempts. Serbia stole six to four and shot 46 to 34.
Bottom Line
Serbia had the manpower, firepower and history in abundance to secure a quarterfinal berth. Japan toiled solidly but will have to settle for the 9-12 semifinals.
What They Said
Petar JAKSIC (SRB), Player of the Match
On the result:
“It’s a great feeling, of course, to advance to the quarterfinals, but there are three more matches, so we are focusing right now on that and there’s no time to rest. I’m not focusing on my own performance, I’m more happy with the team performance, the way we played – defence firstly, then offence — so I’ll say it’s a team effort.
“Our defence was on point and we did exactly what we were told. But there’s always something to improve, right? Offence can be better, of course, our man-up and we’ll focus on that.”
On Japan’s style:
“They play a specific game, so it’s hard to adapt because they’re playing completely different from every other team. First, we needed to be a little stronger in defence, then after that, everything came into place.”
Toi SUZUKI (JPN) — Three Goals
On the match:
“Japan’s national team has never been into the top eight and today it was an important game against Serbia, a three-time Olympic champion. Japan’s style is speed and mobility but Serbia is very strong, so this is enough for us.
“Today, we were so-so and we had a lot of exclusion fouls. It was a very difficult game, but we will be playing for ninth place now and it’s historic for the Japanese team, so I’m ready for the next game now.”
On scoring three goals today:
“I had a good game. Every time I aimed, I scored. It’s because of the nice passing to me from my team-mates because the Serbian goalkeeper is very big and he’s a good goalkeeper, so it was nice to score.
Classification 13-15 Semifinals
Match 26, SINGAPORE 8 CHINA 21 (1-6, 3-6, 1-5, 3-4)
China proved it was much better than this grouping and it should be a classic match against Australia for 13th on Sunday. China shot out to 6-1 at the quarter and doubled that score at halftime. Singapore played hard in the final quarter after being well covered in the third. Singapore converted a penalty in the first quarter but, to its credit, scored three action goals in the second quarter. China was sharper on ball movement and finishing and looked the far more polished team. Five different scorers were used in the first quarter with captain Chen Zhongxian scoring three in the second and two more scorers adding to the tally. Four different scorers made the sheet for Singapore with Shaunn Lok driving in and lobbing for 7-3 down and Wai Chun Fong scoring from two metres. Peng Jiahao netted his second off a centre-forward redirect to close the scoring at 0:38.
Early in the third period, China lost a challenge on penalty but stopped the shot anyway. Chen Zhongxian added two more to his tally and Chen Yimin sent in his second before Jayden See converted extra for Singapore. Wang shovelled in a loose ball at centre forward and Liu Zhilong scored from deep left at 0:43 for 17-5 in what was a quieter third period. In the fourth, Lok scored on counter and Ryan Yap turned outside the right side of the goal to score cross cage for 17-7. Chen Zongxian and a pair to Wen Zijun lifted China to 20-7 by 1:48. Wen Zhe Goh went on counter for Singapore for 20-8 and Liu finished the scoring for China at 21-8 to edge Singapore 4-3 in the last period.
Match Heroes
Chen Zongxian with six goals for China while six others scored two each. Goalkeepers Lee Lee made nine saves and Ken Chou four for Singapore and Lok was the double scorer.
Turning Point
The opening quarter set it up for China.
Stats Don’t Lie
China showed its dominance with 45 shots to 23; 12-3 on steals; three from three and one from two on penalty while converting four from six on extra to Singapore’s two from three.
Bottom Line
China was pressed hard by Singapore and will need to be much more assertive against Australia in the last match. Singapore earned kudos with the eight goals.
What They Said
Shaunn LOK (SGP) — Two Goals
On the match:
“Today’s team result is an improvement from the Asian Championships (where Japan lost 24-8), but we still have a lot to prove and this team is more capable than what today’s scoreline shows. We have one more game left against South Africa and we will try to show our full potential, but I’m sure that this young team has a lot left to show.
“We go into every game trying our best, but all we look for is improvement. We can’t get it or beat China overnight, so little by little, every chance we get to play them, we choose to be able to exceed our expectations or improve from our last game.”
On scoring his first goals of the tournament:
“This is my first time scoring here and I’m quite happy to break my mental block and I’m happy that my family got to watch me hit this milestone.
“I haven’t been my sharpest this whole competition, so I just tried to reset my mind today. I tried to come into the game more relaxed, listening to more relaxing music and watching my old clips and highlights to boost my morale.
“Instead of thinking about the misses I’ve had or the previous games, I just look forward and try to always remember to keep the mindset of the next one and the next one. I’ve been injured (on his right shoulder) the past few games and have a few bruises, but our team physio has helped me a lot by helping me focus on the game, forgetting about the injury, playing past it and just be able to not let it limit myself. ”
On what he learnt today:
“I learnt that we’re getting close to the Chinese team and it’s not an all-out destroying (by China) like in the past. All we know is that we still have a lot to work on to reach their level and hopefully through our training and if this whole team stays together, I’m sure one day we’ll be able to reach their standard.”
On the last match against South Africa:
“We’ll definitely try to get a victory in our last game. We want to reward our home fans who always come down to support us every game with a victory. We’re playing for our family, playing for ourselves and showing that we’re not just a ‘joke team’ here and we are a team to take seriously in the future, and even now. That’s what we want to showcase against South Africa.”
Match 25, SOUTH AFRICA 4 AUSTRALIA 27 (1-5, 1-10, 2-9, 0-3)
The Aussie Sharks found themselves in uncharted territory when playing for the bottom four. It had not happened since the inaugural World Championships in 1973 when it finished 14th. Coming from such a tough group where it lost to Hungary, Spain and Japan, Australia had a point to prove and after a relatively sluggish start, shot away with the match with that 10-1 margin in the second quarter showing just how good this team can be.
Matthew Byrnes had two goals from the first quarter and scored another two in the second as he became the only player to score twice of the 10 goals. A total of 10 players had scored by halftime with Jacob Mercep joining captain Nathan Power as double scorers. South Africa’s Matthew Neser converted a penalty for 2-1 and captain Dylan Watt sent one down the line from top right for 6-2.
Tristan Glanznig became the 11th different scorer when he scored consecutive goals from the deep-left position to start the third period. Nearly two minutes later he scored from the top on extra for 18-2. Marcus Berehulak scored either side of Matthew Byrnes’ third goal for South Africa. Luka Krstic on penalty and Power from deep left pushed it out to 22-3 with Nathan Ward converting a penalty for the Africans; Power on extra and Nangle on counter finishing the period at 24-4. There was less intensity in the final quarter with some tired passes being intercepted at both ends. Glanznig put away a penalty for his fourth goal and Tim Putt scored from centre forward for his second. A South African timeout yielded a stolen ball and two minutes later Krstic made it three from three from the deep left, for the final score of 27-4.
Match Heroes
Laurence Barker on debut in the water, made 10 saves for the Sharks with Power, Byrnes and Glanznig on four goals and Krstic and Berehulak three each. The South African goalkeepers, Matthew Smith (7) and Luka Rajak (4) reaped 11 saves between them.
Turning Point
From 2-1 to 19-2, the Sharks were just too good for this level of competition.
Stats Don’t Lie
Australia was hard pressed on extra, gaining just three from eight with South Africa scoring one from two. Australia gained three and South Africa two penalty goals. The Aussies made 14 steals to six and shot 46 to 25.
Bottom Line
Australia is unlucky to be in the bottom group and shows the chasm between the top 12 and the bottom four.
What He Said
Tim Putt (AUS) — Two Goals
On the victory:
“It was good to get a win today after a couple of tough results. We said we were going to set out and do a few things today and we did those things, so really happy to get the win today.
“We knew we were going to have a good day of scoring today so we really wanted to try and lock down on defence it was (goalkeeper) Laurence’s (Barker) first day of World Champs as well, so I definitely think we ticked those boxes today.
On playing China for 13th:
“We need to play every game until the end, so we are going to try and finish off strong… and hopefully go out on a high.”