MELBOURNE, Australia, March 20. MEN's water polo action commenced at the FINA World Championships with the initial day of group play.
Group A
Italy opened Group A competition with a 20-6 romp over Japan. Three separate Italians scored hat tricks with Fabrizio Buonocore, Fabio Bencivenga and Alessandro Calcaterra each tickling the twin three times. Meanwhile, Japan's Kan Aoyagi posted a match-high five goals.
Serbia notched an 11-7 triumph over Germany in the other Group A match-up. Serbia's Aleksandar Sapic blitzed the goal a match-high five times, while Marc Politze and Thomas Schertwitis led Germany with two apiece.
Group B
Croatia tallied a 13-5 triumph over South Africa in the Group B opener. Zdeslav Vrdoljack led all scorers with four goals, while teammate Maro Jokovic notched a hat trick with three for Croatia. South Africa's Ryan Bell paced RSA with a hat trick of his own.
Spain posted a 15-4 win over China in the other Group B match. Xavier Valles connected for a match-high four goals against China, while teammates Guillermo Molina and Ivan Perez also recorded hat tricks with three goals. China's Liang Zhongxing led his team with two goals.
Group C
Greece scored a 10-7 victory over Russia in the Group C opener. Georgios Afroudakis hit the back of the net a match-high four times for Greece, while Sergey Garbuzov led Russia with two goals.
The United States dominated hometown Australia, 9-3, in the other Group C match. Kevin Witt and Tony Azevedo each tallied a hat trick with three goals, while Australia's Trent Franklin, Pietro Figlioli and Thomas Whalan accounted for Australia's scoring.
Group D
Canada secured a hard-fought 9-8 upset over Romania to open Group D play. Kevin Graham notched a hat trick for Canada with three goals, while Andrei Iosep paced Romania with a hat trick of his own.
In one of the most dominant showings of the day, Hungary recorded a 21-5 victory over New Zealand. Gergely Kiss and Peter Biros each connected four times for Hungary, while teammate Marton Szivos also registered a hat trick with three goals. Timothy Grace paced New Zealand with three goals.
