World University Games Water Polo – Men
- July 2-14, 2019
- Naples, Italy
- Time: UTC +2; 6 hours earlier than ET
- 10 Teams Per Gender
- Preview | Pool Play Recap | Round of 16 Recap
- Results
Great Britain claimed ninth place in the World University Games men’s water polo race with a 15-7 win over Korea on Thursday.
France and Japan also posted wins, advancing to Friday’s fifth place match by topping Australia and Croatia respectively. Meanwhile, the Aussies and Croats will play for seventh place.
Thursday Results
- Great Britain def. Korea 15-7
- France def. Australia 7-3
- Japan def. Croatia 17-16
Great Britain def. Korea 15-7
Nine players put in a goal for Great Britain as the team claimed ninth place.
Jordan Elliot led the way with a hat trick, while four other players boasted multi-goal efforts.
Jeseon Kang managed a hat trick for Korea, while Geon Song and Kijun Song added two goals apiece.
The Brits jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter and led 9-1 at the half. The teams each managed six goals in the second half, leading to the final result.
Korea trailed by 10 at 12-2, 13-3 and 14-4, but gave up just four extra-man goals and one penalty shot.
Korea battled back with an action shot by K. Song and an extra-player goal by Kang. John Pratt countered for Great Britain with 1:50 to play, before Korea hit one final penalty shot at 1:29.
France def. Australia 7-3
France blanked Australia in the second half, while scoring four goals of its own to claim its place in Friday’s fifth place match.
Seven different players scored for France, including Romain Marion-Vernoux, who netted the team’s lone penalty shot.
Australia also had three individual scorers: Angus Lambie, Charles Negus and Reilly Townsend.
Australia scored first as Negus put in an extra-player shot. France answered with one of its own by Marcel Spilliaert and a penalty shot by Marion-Vernoux.
Down 2-1, the Aussies rallied with extra-player shots by Townsend and Lambie to go up 3-2. Two counter attacks, two action shots and an extra player shot made up a final 5-0 run to give France the victory.
Japan def. Croatia 17-16
Japan led by as many as six at 9-3 and 11-5 and held on for the win, despite Croatia rallying to tie the score at 15 with 5:40 to play.
Japanese captain Kiyomu Date scored six times, while Kohei Inaba added five goals to lead the team to victory. T Suzuki turned in a hat trick, while I Nitta notched two scores.
Antonio Buha led Croatia with four goals, while Marin Delic found the back of the net three times and four other Croatians chipped in two-goal efforts.
Croatia scored first on a counter attack by Delic, but Japan answered with four straight goals, including a 5-meter goal and a counter attack by Date.
Croatia was within one at 4-3, but a 5-0 run, including three center shot goals, lifted Japan to a 9-3 advantage. An extra-player goal by Inaba made it 11-5.
Croatia ended the first half with three goals, part of a 6-1 rally, which sliced the gap to one at 12-11 with 3:26 to play in the third quarter.
Goals from Ikkei Nitta and Inaba made it 15-11 Japan. Delic hit an action shot in the final seconds of the third period, then Zvonimir Butic added an extra-man goal (7:30), Franko Lazic put in a center shot goal (6:40) and 5-meter shot (5:40) to knot the score at 15.
Toi Suzuki made good on two extra-man opportunities (4:20 and 0:55) to put Japan back on top at 17-15. Delic found the back of the net one final time with 10 seconds to play, but it was too little too late.