Kazakhstan and Romania won through
their classification 5-8 semifinals to make Monday’s play-off for fifth place
during third-day play of the ANOC World Beach Games qualifiers here in Hurghada.
Kazakhstan fought off South Africa 15-14 in a thriller and Romania downed
Ukraine 17-14 with Alexandru Gheorghe accruing an incredible eight goals. The
1-4 semifinals are being played later in the day.
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 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 by 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 penalty to Ukraine’s one from one.
What Awaits The Teams?
Romania will take on Kazakhstan for
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
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.
Written by World Aquatics Water Polo
Correspondent Russell McKinnon
No comments:
Post a Comment