FINA World Championships, Water Polo: More Action During Second Day of Men’s Preliminary Competition

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SHANGHAI, China, July 20. THE fourth day of water polo at the FINA World Championships featured the second full day of preliminary play for the men.

Defending champion Serbia began the day with a 12-5 rout of Romania. Dusko Pijetlovic tallied four goals for Serbia, while Vanja Udovicic turned in a hat trick with three goals to lead the team to victory. Cosmin Alexandru Radu connected on two goals for Romania.

2009 bronze medalist Croatia downed Canada, 11-4, in the second match of the day. Niksa Dobud shouldered most of the load for Croatia with a four-for-five performance. Four different players scored for the Canadians in the loss.

Japan edged Brazil, 13-11, in the third match. Yusuke Shimizu notched four goals, while teammate Koji Takei scored three goals for a hat trick. Felipe Silva and Ruda Franco's hat tricks for Brazil were not enough to overcome Japan.

Germany doubled up South Africa, 16-8, midway through the day. Moritz Benedikt Oeler nearly outscored South Africa by himself with a six-for-11 shooting performance. Paul Schueler contributed a hat trick for Germany as well. Jason Ray Kyte and Ryan McKay Bell both tallied hat tricks in the loss for South Africa.

The U.S. suffered an 8-5 defeat to Italy to start the second half of matches for the day. Italy had a balanced scoring attack with six different players scoring and Niccolo Gitto and Maurizio Felugo each tallying two goals. Brian Alexander was the only multiple goal scorer for the Stars and Stripes with two tallies.

Montenegro edged defending silver medalist Spain, 9-7, to follow the U.S. defeat. Nikola Janovic and Darko Brguljan led Montenegro with two goals each, while Marc Minguell Alferez and Xavier Valles Trias both connected twice for Spain.

Hungary rolled through Kazakhstan, 16-5. Norbert Madaras, Denes Andor Varga, Norbert Hosnyanszky and Peter Biros each turned in a hat trick to lead Hungary. Evgeniy Zhilyayev paced Kazakhstan with two goals in the loss.

Australia drew the ire of the partisan crowd with a 12-7 triumph over host nation China. Richard Campbell and Aaron Younger led the Aussies with three goals each, while Pan Ning and Li Bin posted two goals each for China.

"My players tried their best but they are less experienced," China's head coach Cai Tianxiong said. "Once the Australian team got into shape, they took control of the game. We will now prepare for our next game against Romania."

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