Greece clinched a memorable victory over Hungary in the Women’s Gold Medal Match in Water Polo on day 13 of the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025, while Spain completed the podium by edging the Women’s Bronze Medal Match against the United States of America.
Artistic Swimming competition also continued the Mixed Duet Technical Final.
See below to hear more from the competitors and their coaches!
Water Polo
Foteini TRICHA (GRE), Top Scorer of Tournament – Gold in Women’s Water Polo
On winning gold:
“It’s a great feeling. I’m really proud of my team, and of everyone representing my country. We played the best we could. We believed in ourselves, in our team, our system, and that led us to winning the gold.”
On backing up the World Cup win with a world title:
“We played really good in this tournament. We deserved this gold. The only thing that I can say is that we have to continue showing this standard. There are many teams that are really good. The championships was really competitive.”
On the standard of women’s water polo now:
"As the years pass, more teams are becoming better and that’s really good"
"It makes the sport more competitive and more interesting to watch. It’s really important. Many teams are at a really high level and that’s really important for our sport.”
Eleftheria PLEVRITOU (GRE), captain - Gold in Women’s Water Polo
On being world champions:
“Oh my god. Now, I don’t have words to describe my feelings. I’m so happy. I’m so proud of my team. We made it. I knew from the beginning. I had this feeling. Really, I cannot say anything else. We deserve it. We won the whole game because we are a great team.”
On an early “sign” that they would win:
“The first training in the competition pool, there was ‘Greek champions’ (shown on the screen). It was like a sign, and now it says ‘World Champions’. It was the first day that we came to this pool, the tech guy did it. I don’t know, maybe he knew. But for me, this was the sign that we will do it.”
Haris PAVLIDIS, GRE head coach - Gold in Women’s Water Polo
On his emotions after winning:
“Relief, happiness. It’s very difficult. It’s my first year. I am here (for) eight months and we won the World Cup and World Championship. I’m very emotional right now. I want to thank my players because without them, nothing can be done. Everything is the players. If they believe in the system, if they believe in the coach, and if they believe in themselves, anything is possible.”
On what’s next:
“I don’t know. Nothing now, only vacation, nothing else.”
Anni ESPAR LLAQUET (ESP) - Bronze in Women’s Water Polo
On the match:
“There were (nerves) the whole game. America played a great game, but we were able to perform really good, and we were able to control the game, even when things weren't working as well as in the beginning. But we're very excited with the performance of the team.”
On Singapore:
“We haven’t been able to see a lot of Singapore, to see much, but I think it’s a good city. We really like the food, we like the swimming pool and everything. But hopefully one day we can be back for tourism.”
Adam KRIKORIAN, USA head coach - Fourth place in Women’s Water Polo
On the match:
“There’s not a game that we play, win or lose, that you think you couldn’t have done something differently. There are plenty of things we could have done differently. Most importantly, I’m just so proud of this team and how much they’ve improved in the last 10 weeks together. Just the effort, the fight they put up.”
On what’s next for the team:
“But what’s next is just evaluating who we are and where are both individually and collectively, and then putting a plan together to try to make some improvements. We have a long way to go to climb back up to the top of the mountain, but I’m excited as I know the team’s excited about the challenges moving forward.”
Lucrezia Lys CERGOL (ITA), Player of the Match- re. JPN v ITA (15-20)
On Singapore 2025:
"It was organised so well. For Singapore, I think it is one of the best cities in the world"
"And, I’m happy to be here. And, I feel very good in this state.”
Bec RIPPON, AUS head coach – re. AUS v NED (11-13)
On what she wants the team to take away from Singapore 2025:
“We came here with goals, goals outside of medals – how we want to represent ourselves, how we want to turn up, and how we play to our Stingers values. If we can review that and see that we’ve done that, then that’s the thing we want to walk away proud of.”
On what she sees in women’s water polo now:
“Realistically the top teams are really close and anyone can win on their day. We played Greece, a really fantastic game and went down in the last two seconds so we know we’re up there but we’ve got to win those important ones. Women’s water polo is going really well and it’s exciting to watch.”
Artistic Swimming
Filippo PELATI (ITA) – Bronze in Mixed Duet Technical
On a second medal in Singapore:
“I prefer this medal, as it has a different meaning for me. This is because it’s a duet technical medal with my new partner. I really enjoyed the moment, and didn’t overthink. So, this medal is for all the training with Lucrezia.”
Pongpimporn PONGSUWAN (THA) – Tenth place in Mixed Duet Technical
On achieving their goal of reaching the final:
“For me, it was really exciting. It’s my first time being in the final for the mixed duet so it was very new for me and I feel very happy."