Budapest, Hungary, July 25.— Hungary will play Greece and Serbia will clash with Croatia in the semifinals of the men's water polo competition at the the FINA World Champiosnhsips on Margaret Island this Thursday.
Hungary narrowed the odds on a gold medal in favour of the host nation with a compelling 14-5 victory over tournament upstart Russia. Norbert Hosnyanszky was rested in an earlier match for the finals and his four-goal effort spoke volumes for head coach Tamas Marcz's insight.Russia was only allowed to join the party in the third quarter when it went on a three-goal haul. It was Hungary's night and more joy might come before Saturday's finale at the Alfred Hajos complex.
Croatia, fired on by captain Sandro Sukno and Javier Garcia Gadea with four goals each, shattered Italian hopes with a 12-9 result that moments earlier was just 10-9.
Greece smashed its way into the semifinals with a dazzling 12-7 victory over Olympic fourth placegetter Montenegro in the late afternoon. Greece stunned with a 4-0 start, turning it into a 6-2 halftime lead and swam into the fourth period with an unbeatable 10-3 advantage. Greek captain Ioannis Fountoulis scored four goals to lift his tournament tally to 18.
Reigning champion Serbia surged past Australia 15-5. It was not going to join the malaise of group winners failing to get past the quarters, but did have lapses of scoring against a younger, less-experienced Aussie Sharks.
In the round 9-12 semifinals, Japan dominated Brazil 9-7. Brazil came back to 8-7 midway through the final quarter only for Japan's Seiya Adachi to grab his third goal for the victory. Spain rolled over Kazakhstan 18-6 with Alberto Barroso scoring five goals for the victor.
In morning classification matches, Canada beat South Africa 9-6 for 15th place, its first win after two draws and a one-goal loss. United States of America had its lowest showing at this level, beating France 11-8 for 13th position.
Today’s Match Schedule:
Match 31. 09:30, CANADA 9 SOUTH AFRICA 6 (Classification 15-16)
Match 32, 10.50, FRANCE 8 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 11 (Classification 13-14)
Match 33, 12:10, BRAZIL 7 JAPAN 9 (Round 9-12 Semifinal)
Match 34. 13:30, KAZAKHSTAN 6 SPAIN 18 (Round 9-12 Semifinal)
Match 35. 14:50, MONTENEGRO 7 GREECE 12 (Round 1-8 Quarter-final)
Match 37, 16:10, SERBIA 15 AUSTRALIA 5 (Round 1-8 Quarter-final)
Match 36, 20:30, HUNGARY 14 RUSSIA 5 (Round 1-8 Quarter-final)
Match 38. 22:00, CROATIA 12 ITALY 9 (Round 1-8 Quarter-final)
Thursday Schedule:
Match 39, 10:30, BRA v KAZ (Classification 11-12)
Match 40, 12:00, JPN v ESP (Classification 9-10)
Match 41, 13:30, MNE v RUS (Classification 5-8 semifinal)
Match 42, 15:0,0 AUS v ITA (Classification 5-8 semifinal)
Match 43, 20.35, GRE v HUN (Classification 1-4 semifinal)
Match 44. 22:00, SRB v CRO (Classification 1-4 semifinal)