Budapest, Hungary, July 21.— Host nation Hungary joined reigning champion Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro to qualify for the men's water polo quarter-finals after third-day action at the FINA World Championships at the Alfred Hajos Pool here.

Hungary had Australia to thank for winning Group B, holding off Italy in the last match of the night. Italy won 13-5 to finish with five points like Hungary, so needed an 11-goal differential (Hungary beat Austraia 13-3) to deny Hungary the group win with the tiebreak. Italy raced to 8-2 at halftime, but lost the third period 3-2 and was kept scoreless for nearly 10 minutes by the valiant Aussie Sharks. A three-goal burst at the end was too late. Hungary earlier cruised home 13-7 against France.

Serbia, who won Group C,  trailled 3-2 in the second quarter, but turned a 5-4 halftime lead into an 11-6 victory over Greece with superstar captain Filip Filpovic top scoring with three goals. It was Greece's first loss of the week. In the other group match, Spain beat South Africa to secure third spot to advance to the second round while South Africa must now go to the round of 13-16.

In Group D, Croatia emerged unbeaten for a quarter-final berth, defeating Japan 16-6. The big fight was the previous match in which United States of America beat Russia 14-11. USA was looking for at least an eight-goal margin in preparation for the eventual three-way tie for second. The match ended in mayhem with USA head coach Dejan Udovicic red-carded and a penalty attempt blocked by a field player after the goalkeeper was excluded for not keeping on his line.USA will have to go to the round of 13-16, something it is unaccustomed with, as its previous worst performance was 11th in 2005.

In Group A, Montenegro topped the group, beating Kazakhstan 13-5 after leading 7-0 early in the third period. In the other group match, Brazil came back three times to level with Canada, finishing at 6-6 and gaining the point it needed to move into second place. Canada, sadly, drops to fourth place in the group, equal on points with Kazakhshatn, but with the head to head, Kazakhstan won 10-9. Canada was the team which on the first day drew with Montenegro, so two draws and one loss by a single goal is a tough way to exit the main draw.

Final points, in finish order:

Group A: Montenegro 5, Brazil 3, Kazakhstan 2, Canada 2.

Group B: Hungary 5, Italy 5, Australia 2, France 0.

Group C: Serbia 6, Greece 4, Spain 2, South Africa 0.

Group D: Croatia 6, Russia 2, Japan 2, USA 2.

 

Today’s results:

Match 17. 09:30, Group C, SPAIN 16 SOUTH AFRICA 4

Match 18, 10.50, Group C, SERBIA 11 GREECE 6

Match 19, 12:10, Group D, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 14 RUSSIA 11

Match 20. 13:30, Group D, JAPAN 6 CROATIA 16

Match 21. 17:30, Group A, BRAZIL 6 CANADA 6

Match 22, 18:50, Group A, MONTENEGRO 13 KAZAKHSTAN 5

Match 23, 20.10, Group B, FRANCE 7 HUNGARY 13 

Match 24. 21:30, Group B, AUSTRALIA 5 ITALY 13

 

Second Round draw, Sunday:

Match 25: 10:30. 4A Canada v 4B France

Match 26: 12:00, 4C South Africa v 4D USA

Match 27: 13:30, 2A Brazil v 3B Australia

Match 28: 15:00, 3A Kazakhstan v 2B Italy

Match 29: 20:30, 2C Greece v 3D  Japan

Match 30: 22:00, 3C Spain v 2D Russia