Budapest, Hungary, July 19.— Hungary and Italy fought out an incredible and spiteful 9-9 draw on day two of men’s water polo at the FINA World Championships at the Alfred Hajos Pool here today.
It was the supposed Group B decider and now it goes to Friday for the final group matches to see who will earn direct entry to the quarterfinals next week. Hungary led by two in the third quarter before Italy slipped in four straight goals, leaving Hungary, backed by 8000 screaming fans, to come back and secure a point. In the other group match, Australia held off France 11-10 after being three goals up in the final quarter.
World champion Serbia weaved its magic with a convincing 11-5, Group C victory over Spain. This sets Serbia up with a tantalising clash with Greece on Friday for group dominance. Captain Ioannis Fountoulis led Greece to an 18-2 victory over South Africa with six goals for two wins.
In Group D, Olympic silver medallist Croatia came from three down to defeat Russia 10-8 in a superb display of patience above aggression. Then there was the Seiya Adachi Show as he slammed in seven goals in Japan’s stunning 15-7 defeat of United States of America.
In Group A, Kazakhstan won a see-sawing match, pipping Canada 10-9 with a 3-1 final quarter. In the final match of the night, Montenegro took the group lead with a 14-5 margin over Brazil.
A close analysis of the shooting today would throw up a staggeringly high percentage of goals from the deep left-hand-catch position. The brilliance of scoring from an acute angle was made all the more amazing as many were right-hand shooters.
Today’s schedule:
Match 10. 09:30, Group B, FRANCE 10 AUSTRALIA 11
Match 11, 10.50, Group C, SOUTH AFRICA 2 GREECE 18
Match 12, 12:10, Group C, SPAIN 5 SERBIA 11
Match 13. 13:30, Group D, RUSSIA 8 CROATIA 10
Match 14. 17:30, Group D, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 7 JAPAN 15
Match 15, 18:50, Group A, CANADA 9 KAZAKHSTAN 10
Match 9, 20.10, Group B, HUNGARY 9 ITALY 9
Match 16. 21:30, Group A, BRAZIL 5 MONTENEGRO 14
Progress points:
Group A: Montenegro 3, Brazil 2, Kazakhstan 2, Canada 1.
Group B: Hungary 3, Italy 3, Australia 2, France 0.
Group C: Serbia 4, Greece 4, Spain 0, South Africa 0.
Group D: Croatia 4, Russia 2, Japan 2, USA 0.