Italy survived a thunderstorm and a late tsunami to defeat Japan 15-12 in the third quarterfinal. The match was delayed an hour because of the lightning and heavy rain, delaying the match, knocking out power, which meant proceeding the match without clocks. The temperature plummeted from 33C to 22C within minutes.

The announcer was without his system and he had to call out the time as players did not have the benefit of the shot clocks. Video replays and some cameras were also knocked out. However, the match proceeded after scenes similar to the FINA World Championships in Montreal, Canada back in 2005.

The victory means Italy has booked a medal-semifinal clash with United States of America.

Japan opened the scoring through the high-performing Yusuke Inaba before Italy took a stranglehold on the match that led to a 7-2 advantage midway through the second quarter. Italian captain Pietro Figlioli converted consecutive penalty shots for 3-1 and then in the second period, Gonzalo Echinique netted three in a row, the first coming from centre forward. Goals were traded until halfway through the third quarter when Italy had a healthy 12-6 margin.

Japan scored either side of the final break and this was when Japan, still darting and diving everywhere, seemed to find real purpose and success with its game plan. Matteo Aicardi and Michael Bodegas stretched it to 14-8, the latter with a superb turn and catch. Mitsuru Takata scored on extra and then from the top with a missile, either side of a penalty save by Italy’s  Marco Del Lungo, skipping over the back line. Bodegas turned again at centre forward for 15-10. Kenta Arai and  captain Keigo Okawa closed the scoring at 15-12 and an excellent 5-3 final quarter for the Olympic host.

The extra-man statistics were brilliant with Italy netting five from eight attempts and Japan sending in seven from eight. Italy converted its three penalty attempts with Japan missing one from three.

Japan now has a chance to finish fifth if it can better France in the classification 5-8 semifinals on Wednesday.

Full match statistics — http://results.microplustiming.com/TBILISI2021/index_web.php

Montenegro set up a semifinal clash with Greece by downing Kazakhstan 18-6 in the fourth quarterfinal.

The match started an hour late and had the benefit of a salvaged clock system that appeared after play had begun. There were no line-ups or anthems for the last two quarterfinals, due to the inclement weather. Kazakhstan head coach Nemanja Knezevic did not see out the match, being red-carded at 4:22 in the final quarter.

Montenegro raced to 4-1 and 6-1, thanks to doubles from Stefan Vidovic and Aleksandar Ivovic. Kazakhstan’s efforts came from centre forward Altay Altayev (centre forward) and Yevgeniy Medvedev with a long baulking walk from the top.

Ivovic scored twice more in the second quarter, climbing high for a pass into two metres and then on extra. It was a shut-out with Kazakhstan trying, but not succeeding.

The third period was more to Kazakhstan’s liking, settling in well and tying it 3-3. Six different scorers made for an interesting stanza with a Drasko Brguljan lob from the point position sending his team to the final quarter 15-5 ahead.

Vladan Spaic started the fourth with a backhand on extra-man attack and Stanislav Shvedov scored from the deep left to boost Kazakhstan’s tally. Two minutes later, Knezevic didn’t go quietly and the rudderless Kazakhstan watched as Dusan Banicevic with his third and Dimitrije Obradovic easing the scoreboard to 18-6.

Kazakhstan goes to the classification 5-8 semifinals where it will play host Georgia.

Full match statistics — http://results.microplustiming.com/TBILISI2021/index_web.php