Olympic champions and last year's World League winners Serbia began the 2017 Super Final’s edition on a high last night with a clear victory over Kazakhstan (15-7). Today there came another big win against Italy, 13 -7. Alessandro Campagna & C were not easy beats, trailing in course of 3 out of quarters. As a result, after two games Italy came down on lowly third with just 2 points, earned in the penalty shoot-out opener over the USA, as Serbia predictably topped the chart with 6/6 record.
Still in Group A, current #2 the USA beat Kazakhstan by 14-10. Most of the game had been hugely dominated by the American power with their lead ranging from 6 to 8 points, however the Asian squad woke up late in the 4th period to cut back the difference to a decent -4.
Group B's Croatia, with four 2012 Olympic champions and nice silver holders of the Rio-2016 edition, confirmed their good shape defeating the host Russia, which had celebrated a lucky start in the Super Final on the day before. Ivica Tucak coached side punished their many mistakes and had no reason to get worried for the result of the battle, 12-7, which placed them atop of the local ranking (6/6 points). On their part, Russians are sharing second and third with Australians, having 3 points each. Competition day 2 pictured their first and unexpectedly narrow win in Ruza against Japanese with the intrigue kept alive till 2 minutes to go to the final buzzer, 9-8.
Gianni Lonzi, FINA TWPC Chairman, gives the signal to start
Progress points after Competition Day 2:
Group A: Croatia 6, Russia 3, Australia 3, Japan 0.
Group B: Serbia 6, USA 4, Italy 2, Kazakhstan 0.
FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final 2017
Competition results/ Day 2 / 21 June, 2017
Game 5. USA – KAZ 14-10 (3-0, 4-3, 4-2, 3-5)
Game 7. SRB – ITA 13-7 (2-1, 3-2, 4-3, 4-1)
Game 8. AUS – JPN 9-8 (2-3, 2-0, 2-3, 3-2)
Game 6. CRO – RUS 12-7 (3-1, 2-2, 5-1, 2-3)
Instructions from Dejan Savic