The date and time schedule has been announced for water polo at the upcoming summer Olympic games.
There are twelve men’s teams competing, all of which will be broken up into two groups of six. Group A will consist of Serbia, Greece, Brazil, Australia, Japan and Hungary. While the United States, Spain France, Montenegro, Italy, and Croatia will make up Group B.
Eight women’s team will be competing, and will be broken up in the same fashion as the men’s teams. Group A will consist of Italy, Russia, Australia, and Brazil. Group B will include Spain, China, Hungary, and the United States.
Both tournaments will be held in pool play style. Both Group A and Group B will play all of the teams within their own group. After these preliminary rounds are held, the four highest ranking teams in each group will advance to a Quarter Final Round; where it then becomes modified single elimination.
Men’s Schedule:
Day 1, August 6th:
Day one of the tournament begins with incredibly high profile matches that may set the tone for the remainder of the tournament. Croatia, the defending gold medal champions, will be playing the United States. This is a rematch of the gold medal game from the 2012 Olympics. The home team Brazil, who finished third in the 2015 World League, will be facing Australia.
- 10:20 AM- United States vs. Croatia
- 8:50 PM- Brazil vs. Australia
Day 2, August 8th:
Day two features a tough match between Serbia and Greece. Serbia was the gold medal champion in the 2015 World Championships, where Greece placed third.
- 9:00 AM- Serbia vs. Greece
Day 3, August 10th:
The highly ranked home team Brazil and the World Champions from Serbia will play on day three.
- 7:30 PM: Serbia vs. Brazil
Day 4, August 12th:
Exciting games played on day four include the defending silver medalists, the United States, versus the highly competitive Montenegro. Also, Greece will be facing off against the home team Brazil.
- 11:40 AM- United States vs. Montenegro
- 7:30 PM- Greece vs. Brazil
Day 5, August 14th:
The United States will play highly competitive Italy on day 5 of the tournament.
- 4:30 PM- United States vs. Italy
Day 6, August 16:
Day six marks the beginning of the Quarter Final Round. The first, second, third, and fourth placing teams from both groups will advance to this round.
Day 7, August 18th
The Semi-Final round will begin on day seven. This round will be played with respect to the Quarter Final Round.
Day 8, August 20th:
The final round will be played on day eight of the tournament. This round will determine the final placement of each team.
- 6:50 PM- Gold Medal Game
Women’s Schedule:
Day 1, August 9th:
Similar to the men, day one for the women begins with extremely difficult games. The United States and Spain will be facing off in what is becoming one of the great rivalries in the sport. Not only is it a rematch of the 2012 gold medal game, it’s a rematch of last weekend’s World League championship match. The United States won both games, so the Spaniards will come in hungry to get ‘over the hump.’ In addition, Italy and home team Brazil will be facing tough competition as they were ranked numbers 7 and 8 in the world in 2015.
- 10:20 AM- Italy vs. Brazil
- 11:40 AM- United States vs. Spain
Day 2, August 11:
On day two the defending silver medalists, Spain, will be playing medal hopeful Hungary. Italy and Australia will also face off in an extremely competitive game.
- 10:20 AM- Italy vs. Australia
- 1:00 PM- Spain vs. Hungary
Day 3, August 13th:
Day three features extremely difficult games including the United States versus Hungary, and home team Brazil versus Australia.
- 11:40 AM- Australia vs. Brazil
- 1:00 PM- United States vs Hungary
Day 4, August 15:
Day four will mark the beginning of the Quarter Final Round. The first, second, third, and fourth placing teams from each group will advance to this round.
Day 5, August 17th
The Semi-Final round will begin on day five. This round will be played with respect to the outcome of the games played in the Quarter Final Round.
Day 6, August 19th.
Day six of the tournament will feature the Final Round. This round will determine the final placement of each team.
- 4:30 PM- Gold Medal Game
The women have won bronze, silver, and gold and the men silver I think last Olympics. I would have liked to have done water polo in high school back in the 1970’s along with the swimming.