Played over two pools, the competition will end with three separate competitions — the top eight going for the major medals in the Platinum Group; the second eight shooting for Gold Group positions and the bottom nine playing the Silver Group — all gaining final rankings.

Photos courtesy of studioSilentBlue Creative Photography

From the Round of 16, Montenegro beat Japan 16-9, Spain downed Slovenia 13-3, Croatia edged Brazil 6-4, Italy held off Germany 8-7 with a goal 21 seconds from time, Hungary defeated United States of America 15-4, Turkey sent off Malta 13-8, Serbia had the better of Egypt 10-5 and Greece surpassed Australia 15-8.

This sets up some intriguing Platinum medal quarter-final encounters — Montenegro-Spain, Italy-Hungary, Turkey-Serbia and Croatia-Greece.

The Gold grouping has quarter-finals with all the teams match-hardened and ready to take on the critical, second half of the tournament.

In the Silver Round, two of the closest matches of the day were recorded with Georgia beating Poland 13-12 with a goal 21 seconds from time and Latvia overcoming Azerbaijan 10-9 with the winner at 1:12 left in the match. There are still plenty of matches left for these teams as they go for final classifications.

The tournament is one of the busiest on the international calendar with 82 matches, although some 24-team junior men’s tournaments in the past have featured up to 110 matches, and up to four venues.

Day 4 results:

Silver Round:
Poland 12 Georgia 13 (4-3, 3-3, 1-2, 4-5), Azerbaijan 5 Switzerland 17 (0-2, 2-3, 2-6, 1-6), South Africa 11 Portugal 4 (3-1, 0-1, 3-0, 5-2), Ukraine 9 Kazakhstan 3 (2-0, 3-0, 3-1, 1-2), Switzerland 8 Poland 14 (1-6, 1-3, 3-1, 3-4), Latvia 10 Azerbaijan 9 (3-2, 2-3, 2-2, 3-2).
Gold/Platinum Round:
Montenegro 16 Japan 9 (4-3, 4-1, 5-2, 3-3), Slovenia 3 Spain 13 (0-2, 1-2, 1-4, 1-5), Brazil 4 Croatia 6 (2-1, 2-2, 0-1, 0-2), Italy 8 Germany 7 (4-1, 2-3, 1-3, 1-0), USA 4 Hungary 15 (1-5, 0-3, 2-3, 1-4), Malta 8 Turkey 13 (0-2, 1-3, 4-3, 3-5), Egypt 5 Serbia 10 (1-2, 0-3, 0-4, 4-2), Australia 8 Greece 15 (2-5, 1-2, 1-4, 4-4).

Thursday Programme:

Platinum (medal quarter-finals)
Volos Outdoor Pool
16:45 Montenegro v Spain
18:00 Italy v Hungary
19:15 Turkey v Serbia
20:30 Croatia v Greece

Gold (Classification 9-16 quarter-finals)
Volos Outdoor Pool
09:00 Japan v Slovenia
10:15 Brazil v Australia
11:30 Germany v United States of America
12:45 Malta v Egypt

Silver (Classification 17-25 round)
Nea Ionia Indoor Pool
9:00 Georgia v Switzerland
10:15 Poland v Latvia
11:30 South Africa v Ukraine
12:45 Portugal v Kazakhstan
16:45 Latvia v Georgia
18:00 Ukraine v Portugal
19:15 Kazakhstan v South Africa
20:30 Azerbaijan v Poland