Sports
Hungary Unseats Croatia to Win World Water Polo Title
Multi-time champion Hungary dethroned reigning world champion Croatia with a commanding 18–12 win in the men’s water polo quarterfinals at the OCBC Aquatic Centre on Sunday. Hungary now advances to face triple Olympic gold medallist Serbia in the semifinals, while World Cup silver medallist Greece will take on European and World Cup champion Spain in the other semifinal.
In the quarterfinal clash between Greece and Italy, Greece emerged victorious with a 17–11 win. Italy suffered a major setback early on after one of its players was ejected for a violent foul, forcing the team to play a man down for four minutes. The resulting four-goal deficit proved too large to overcome.
Spain cruised past Montenegro with a dominant 14–5 performance, capitalizing on a lengthy stretch during which Montenegro failed to score.
Serbia maintained full control in its match against the USA, turning a 6–3 halftime lead into a solid 14–9 final scoreline.
In the fourth and final quarterfinal, Hungary and Croatia were locked at 6–6 after the first quarter. But Hungary broke away in the following periods, ultimately securing an 18–12 victory and ending Croatia's reign as world champion.
With the semifinals now set, only Spain among the original group winners remains in contention for the title—raising questions about whether the three to four days of rest between matches may have impacted performance for the others.
In the morning session’s classification matches (9th–12th place), Japan overwhelmed Brazil with a 22–11 win, while Romania defeated Canada 18–12. Both winning teams will play their classification finals on Tuesday.
Australia exited the competition with a 16–9 win over China, securing 13th place, while host nation Singapore, competing in its debut world championship, claimed 15th place after edging out South Africa 14–13.
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