Written by:World Aquatics Water Polo
Correspondent Russell McKinnon
Egypt and Montenegro will go head to
head in the final of the men’s tournament at Somabay Resort on Monday after the
third day of play at the World Aquatics Beach Games Beach Water Polo Tournament
in Somabay, Egypt.
What Shook Out During Day 3 of Beach
Water Polo
Egypt and Montenegro will go head to
head in the final of the men’s tournament on Monday after the third day of play
at the World Aquatics Beach Games Beach Water Polo Tournament in Somabay,
Egypt.
Egypt bounced Georgia 10-9 and
Montenegro shut out Hungary 10-7 in the round 1-4 semifinals. Kazakhstan and
Romania won through their classification 5-8 semifinals to make the play-off
for fifth and Serbia will play for 10th against Saudi Arabia after beating
Kuwait 12-7.
Classification 1-4 Semifinals
EGYPT 10 GEORGIA 9
Wild scenes followed Egypt’s amazing
10-9 victory over Georgia with the winner coming 33 seconds from time. Egypt
deserved the win for sheer determination. The match was levelled at all the
numbers to six, at eight and nine.
Egypt showed the way in the first
quarter with Georgia equalising each time for 3-3 by the first break. Egypt
started the second-quarter scoring with Georgia taking the lead twice and
leading 6-5 with a centre-forward goal just before halftime.
Egypt missed two penalty chances in
the third period and trailed 7-6. It became 8-6 with Egypt replying with two
goals, including a centre-forward goal. Giorgi Magrakvelidze converted an
extra-man attack for Georgia with Ahmed Atef responding at 1:51 from just
outside six metres.
Georgia’s timeout had little effect
and at 0:33, Mohamed Salah Farag snuck one in from deep left. An Egyptian
timeout at 0:17 was meant to slow the match and the Georgians took exception
and confusion reigned as the referee called a penalty and changed his mind.
After a lot of arm waving, the match was ended by officials and the
celebrations started.
Match Difference Makers
Salah Farag and Atef for Egypt and
Magrakvelidze for Georgia, with three goals each.
The Decider
Salah Farag’s goal to seal the match.
It came from under a lot of pressure.
Stats Critical
Georgia was smarter on extra-man
attack with five from 12 with Egypt scoring a near-crippling one from 10.
However, it converted two from four on a penalty to Georgia’s one from one.
Despite these statistics, Egypt won.
What They SaidSeif Omara — Egypt
Our game with Georgia was a very
tough one, a hard one, a close one that we won at the very last second. Now
we’re into the final and we’ll scout out who we’ll play between Hungary and
Montenegro. We’re very excited to be in our very first final in the history of
Egypt water polo, so we’ll do our best to win this tournament as hosts. We’re
very excited to play tomorrow and bring it home.
Ahmed Elsapagh — Egypt
I think this win is a very big
motivation for the Egypt team. It won’t be easy to win tomorrow’s championship,
but we’re up for the challenge.
Dragoljub Cetkovic — Georgia,
goalkeeper
It was a really tough game with Egypt
hosting here. We showed our class. They showed their class, but somehow they
managed to pull out the win. There’s a good atmosphere here. We’re still having
fun as we have already qualified for the World Beach Games in Bali.
It’s my first time playing here. I
like it very much because it’s a good atmosphere, a good vibe. Everything’s
okay.
What Awaits The Teams?
Egypt will play Hungary in the final
on Monday and Georgia will clash with Montenegro for third ranking.
MONTENEGRO 10 HUNGARY 7
Hungary had the match in its grasp in
the first half and then squandered opportunities in the second, allowing
Montenegro to sneak home with the victory. Hungary was 1-0 and 2-1 before
Montenegro equalised with a shot from the top to bring up quarter time.
Montenegro started the second half
with a centre-forward strike on extra by Nikola Markovic. Marcell Kolozsi
bombed one from halfway to draw level, but two outside shots gave Montenegro
the three-quarter-time advantage. A Koloszi pair brought the match to even
terms at seven.
Montenegro took a timeout, scored on
extra and with a centre-forward backhand and Nikola Brkic sewed up the match
with 33 seconds to spare with a cross-pass gift. Hungary’s last-gasp penalty
attempt hit wood and it was all over.
Match Difference Makers
Brkic was the difference with his
four consecutive goals for Montenegro, the first coming late in the third
period and then three in the fourth, when it really mattered. Kolozsi netted
three times for Hungary, including his second and third which brought the match
was 7-5 down to 7-7 two minutes into the final quarter.
The Decider
Brkic’s goal on extra to break the
7-7 impasse and then scoring the next two for 10-7.
Stats Critical
Montenegro converted two from six on
extra and Hungary two from 11. Only one of the three penalty attempts crossed
the line and that went to Montenegro.
What They Said
Igor Martinovic – Montenegro coach
When you play Hungary-Montenegro in
this sport, it’s always something more. And in this, you can be assured it will
be a tough game – a tough, physical game. I think today we had more patience to
finish every action. Egypt is a very good team and will be a tough match-up (in
the final). They’re strong physically; they swim faster and play with the home
public behind them. We’ll try to play a good game and try for the win,
obviously.
The ambience here is very good. All
this wind, this sun and waves, it brings me back to playing a long time ago in
Montenegro we’d play summer league like this. For me, it’s coming back to
playing water polo as we did as children. It’s a very nice, fast game and very
interesting. It brings people out to watch. I’d like the sport to continue like
this.
What Awaits The Teams?
Montenegro faces Egypt in the final
and Hungary will play for third against Georgia.
Classification 5-8 Semifinals
SOUTH AFRICA 14 KAZAKHSTAN 15
Kazakhstan survived a frantic match
that lived up to everything beach water polo was all about. Major fouls were
incidental rather than heavily handled. It was all about goals, fast action and
reactions. South Africa went ahead twice in the first quarter and trailed by
3-2 at the first break.
From there, Kazakhstan was never to
be equalised, let alone headed. It led 7-4 in the second quarter, however,
South Africa scored consecutive penalty goals in nine seconds to finish the
half a goal behind at 7-6. Kazakhstan went to 9-6, slapping in an aerial
rebound, and 10-8 with a six-metre-foul shot. Goals were traded for 11-9 by the
last intermission.
A frantic South Africa won the last
quarter 5-4, coming within one goal four times despite being 14-11 down at one
stage. It was 14-13 at 1:14 and 15-14 at 0:27. From there, both teams took
timeouts to no avail with South Africa’s shot being blocked on the buzzer.
Match Difference Makers
Eduard Tsoy and Ruslan Akhmetov were
to the fore, as usual, scoring four goals each, as did South Africa’s Janco
Rademeyer and Yaseen Margro, who is a real find for South African water polo.
His measured play for the last goal earned a foul outside six metres, which he
converted.
The Decider
Akhmetov’s 15-13 strike at 0:40 for
15-13 — a successful penalty shot.
Stats Critical
South Africa looked better on the
stats with three penalty conversions to two and five from 13 on an extra-man
attack to Kazakhstan’s three from eight. It was Kazakhstan’s field goals that
proved the difference.
What Awaits The Teams?
Kazakhstan will play Romania for
fifth place and South Africa will take on Ukraine for seventh classification.
ROMANIA 17 UKRAINE 14
Ukraine was distraught and Romania
very happy with the final result. Romania achieved the win through its mental
approach, keeping the team working together and starting the first quarter 3-0.
It was 8-6 by halftime and 15-11 at the third break.
Ukraine was always a threat and
reduced the margin to one on an amazing seven occasions, most lately at 12-11.
Romania went five up at the start of the fourth period and 17-13 as Ukraine had
the last say with 46 seconds left on the clock.
Match Difference Makers
Alexandru Gheorghe was well and truly
in the thick of things with a game-high eight goals for Romania and Maksym
Osyka threw in five for Ukraine.
The Decider
The yellow card for Ukrainian coach
Oleh Dobush and the red card for Ihor Keckedzhy in the closing seconds of the
third period. Romania capitalised and made the last-break score 15-11, the
biggest margin of the match.
Stats Critical
Both teams were excellent on
extra-man attack with Romania going four from six and Ukraine five from eight.
These stats are not easy to accrue due to the fast pace of the action. Romania
nailed two-from-three on penalties to Ukraine’s one-from-one.
What Awaits The Teams?
Romania will take on Kazakhstan for
the fifth classification and Ukraine will shape up to South Africa for seventh
position.
Classification 9-11 Semifinal
KUWAIT 7 SERBIA 12
It may have been the lesser match of
the day, but it did not disappoint with both teams applying plenty of pressure,
as the score attests. Serbia only led 2-1 at the first break, doubled the
difference to 5-3 by halftime, went to 8-5 by the final break and cruised to
victory.
Both teams had big men and it was a
struggle to shoot, let alone score. Kuwaiti goalkeeper and captain Mohammad
Mulla was excellent with many saves. His only “blunder” was to come up to shoot
hesitantly in the dying seconds with the rebound being snapped up and shot by
Ognjen Stojanovic to extend the final margin to five.
Match Difference Makers
Kristian Sulc and Mihajlo Andrin
fired in three each for Serbia while Mshary Hasan and Mohammad Alrumaidhin
scored twice for Kuwait.
The Decider
The intercept and counter-attack goal
by Marko Jankovic to start the third period. It lifted Serbia to a three-goal
difference.
Stats Critical
Serbia converted four from seven on
an extra-man attack and defended all three Kuwaiti chances. Kuwait missed the
only penalty shot.
What Awaits The Teams?
Serbia now goes to the classification
9-10 play-off with Saudi Arabia on Monday and Kuwait takes 11th position.
Monday Schedule
Match 21, 09:00, Men, Classification
9-10 SRB v KSA
Match 22, 09:50, Men, Classification
7-8 RSA v UKR
Match 23, 10:40, Men, Classification
5-6 KAZ v ROU
Match 7, 15:50, Women, Classification
3-4 RSA v ZIM
Match 8, 15:00, Women, Classification
1-2 GRE v CZE
Match 24, 16:40, Men, Classification
3-4 GEO v HUN
Match 25, 17:30, Men, Classification
1-2 EGY v MNE
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