Gwangju, South Korea.— United States of America will defend its crown against 2013 champion Spain in Friday's FINA World Championship women's water polo gold-medal match at the Nambu University Grounds in Gwangju.

In the first medal semifinal on Wednesday night, USA raced to a 6-0 lead over Australia and faced tremendous opposition in the second half before winning 7-2. 

In the second semifinal, Spain turned a 10-8 halftime advantage into a 16-10 margin and in doing so claimed the all-important Olympic Games berth gifted at this tournament. USA is pre-qualified as the World League winner earlier this year. Rioser Tarrago was in devastating form for Spain with four goals by the time Spain led 6-3. For Hungary, Dora Leimeter also scored four.

In the round 5-8 semifinals, Russia struck first blood with a cruisy 13-4 margin over Greece. Then a fired-up Italy rolled a lacklustre Netherlands 10-5 for its fourth win of the week. Russia and Italy will play for fifth position and Greece and Netherlands will go for seventh ranking. 

In classification matches, Canada defeated Kazakhstan 24-7 for ninth position and China beat New Zealand 14-12 for 11th position.

Wednesday Women’s Schedule

Classification 11-12
Match 39, 09.30, CHINA 14 NEW ZEALAND  12

Classification 9-10
Match 40, 11:00, CANADA 24 KAZAKHSTAN 7

Classification 5-8 Semifinals
Match 41, 14:00, GREECE 4 RUSSIA 13
Match 42, 15:30, NETHERLANDS 5 ITALY 10

Classification 1-4 Semifinals
Match 43, 17:00, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 7 AUSTRALIA 2
Match 44, 18:30, SPAIN 16 HUNGARY 10

Thursday Men’s Schedule:

Classification 11-12
Match 39, 9.30, JAPAN v SOUTH AFRICA

Classification 9-10
Match 40, 11:00, MONTENEGRO v UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Classification 5-8 Semifinals
Match 41, 14:00, SERBIA v GERMANY
Match 42, 15:30, AUSTRALIA v GREECE

Classification 1-4 Semifinals
Match 43, 17:00, SPAIN v CROATIA
Match 44, 18:30, HUNGARY v ITALY

Friday Women’s Schedule

Classification 7-8
Match 45, 14:00, GREECE v NETHERLANDS

Classification 5-6
Match 46, 15:30, RUSSIA v ITALY

Classification 3-4
Match 47, 17:00, AUSTRALIA v HUNGARY

Classification 1-2
Match 48, 18:30, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v SPAIN