Hungary, Croatia Advance to Gold-Medal Match in Men’s Water Polo at Worlds; U.S. Places Ninth

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. HEADING down the stretch with two more days of water polo competition, Hungary and Croatia completed the dance card for the men's gold medal at the FINA World Championships. Meanwhile, the U.S. closed out its meet with a 10-9 win over Australia for ninth place.

11th-Place Match
Romania claimed a 15-13 win over Canada for 11th-place in the tournament. Cosmin Radu notched four goals in the win, while teammate Andrei Iosep tallied a hat trick as well. Kevin Graham and Nathaniel Miller each posted three goals for Canada.

9th-Place Match
The United States edged Australia, 10-9, for ninth-place. Jeff Powers led the way with three goals for the U.S., while Thomas Whalan paced the Aussies with a hat trick of his own.

Classification 5-8
Greece upended Russia, 9-8, in one classification match. Dimitros Mazis, Christos Afroudakis and Dimitrios Miteloudis led a balanced attack for Greece with two goals apiece, while Alexander Eryshov scored the lion share of Russia's goals with four.

In another nail-biter, Italy snared a 6-5 win over Germany in the other classification match. Francesco Postiglione led all scorers with a hat trick for Italy, while Heiko Nossek paced Germany with a pair.

Semifinals
Croatia advanced over Serbia with a 10-7 triumph. Miho Boskovic totaled three goals to lead Croatia, while Vladimir Vujasinovic notched three goals for Serbia in the loss.

Hungary registered a 12-11 victory over Spain to complete the gold-medal match. Norbert Madaras and Peter Biros paced Hungary with hat tricks, while Guillermo Molina tallied four goals for Spain. Molina's teammate Xavier Garcia also notched a hat trick in the loss.

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