Hungary and Italy in men’s final in Chengdu after thrillers in semifinals

Italy and Hungary secured their spots in the final of the men’s tournament at the University Games in Chengdu.

Both teams put up a great fight in the semifinals, with Hungary defeating the USA 11:10, while Italy recorded an identical win against Georgia.

Both games were very exciting, but e each game had its own storyline. The final and the bronze-medal match are on the program on Tuesday.

The women’s semifinals lacked excitement. Host China sank Australia 20:6, and Italy defeated Japan 21:2. China and Italy will meet in the final on Monday.

2023 World University Games, men’s water polo tournament, Day 7

SEMIFINALS

Hungary – USA 11:10 (3:2, 5:1, 3:2, 0:5)
Hungary: Kevi 3, Baksa 2, Bobiss 2, Agh 2, Dala 1, Ekler 1.
USA: Liechty 3, Larsen 2, Merk 2, Alessandria 1, Kenney 1, Rowe 1.

Georgia – Italy 10:11 (3:1, 1:3, 2:3, 4:4)
Georgia: Akhvlediani 3, Dadvani 2, Imnaishvili 2, Magrakvelidze 2, Dzikhtisiarenka 1.
Italy: Del Basso 2, Guidi 2, Campopiano 2, Vitale 1, F.Faraglia 1, Panerai 1, Guerrato 1, Lanfranco 1.

Hungary controlled the match against the USA in the first three quarters. The Europeans entered the final quarter leading 11:5, and the contest seemed to be over. But, the Hungarians started making mistakes in the final period, while the Americans, who had a lot of opportunities with a man-up, started coming back. They scored five goals in a row. At the finish, they reduced the gap to one – 10:11 and had chances to level the score. However, Hungary kept a slim advantage and will play in the gold-medal match.

Bendeguz Kevi (Hungary) and Benjamin Liechty (USA) were the best scorers, with three goals each. The difference in goals was minimal at the end of the match, but there was a significant difference in the number of personal fouls. The Hungarians were excluded 20 times, while the Americans committed 11 personal fouls. Still, Hungary’s conversion was better. The Europeans scored five goals with a man-up (and one from a penalty shot), while the USA netter four power-play goals.

The other semifinal was different, even though it produced the same score. Georgia rushed to a 3:0 lead. Italy managed to catch up with the rival by the middle break (4:4). Early in the third period, the “Settebello” earned a first lead (5:4). The Georgians responded with two goals and retook the lead (6:5). Still, Italy entered the final quarter with a slim 7:6 advantage. Magrakvelidze opened the final period with a new equalizer – 7:7. Italy then scored two back—to—back goals and earned a two-goal lead for the first time (9:7). The Georgians leveled once more (9:9). However, the Italians restored a 2-goal advantage (11:9). Georgia halved the deficit (10:11) and had the opportunity to equalize in the last attack, but failed and Italy went to the final.

Shots with a power-play advantage made the difference. Italy’s man-up conversion was 8/11, while Georgia scored five goals from nine shots. There were five penalty shots, and four were converted (Italy 2/3, Georgia 2/2).

CLASSIFICATION MATCHES

Greece beat China easily – 19:5 with five goals from Nikolaos Papasifakis and four from Ioannis Kechalaris.
The second duel in the 5th-8th place semifinals was more interesting, but the Europeans emerged as the winners. Germany defeated Japan 14:12. Fynn Schuetze netted four, and Mark Dyck scored three goals for Germany, but the best scorer of the match was Japan’s Hakuto Muraoka, who found the net six times.

Slovakia narrowly defeated Singapore in the 9th-11th place classification and will play against South Korea for 9th place.

Semifinals 5^th – 8^th place

China – Greeece 5:19 (1:5, 2:4, 1:4, 1:6)

Germany – Japan 14:12 (4:2, 4:3, 2:2, 4:5)

 9th – 11th place classification

Singapore – Slovakia 7:8 (1:3, 4:2, 1:3, 1:0)

2023 World University Games, women’s water polo tournament, Day 6

SEMIFINALS

China – Australia 20:6 (6:0, 3:0, 4:3, 7:3)
China: H.Wang 4, Zhong 3, Nong 2, Yan 2, S.Wang 2, Lu 2, Zhang 2, Zhai 1, Pan 1, Chen 1.
Australia: Marsh 2, Henshaw 2, Ditterick 1, Powells 1

Italy – Japan 21:2 (8:2, 3:0, 6:0, 4:0)
Italy: Rannalli 7, Cordovani 4, Gagliardi 3, Nardini 2, Repetto 2, Nesti 1, Di Claudio 1, ALtamura 1.
Japan: Kobayashi 1, Fujiwara 1.

China closed the group stage two days ago with a 22:7 victory over Australia. Today’s encounter between the same rivals was very similar to the previous one. China dominated from the beginning. The hosts scored nine unanswered goals in the first half. The “Aussies” got on the scoreboard in the 17^th minute. Shortly after, Australia narrowed the difference to seven (2:9). Still, the third quarter belonged to the Chinese, who added seven goals in the fourth period, conceding three.

Italy and Japan met for the first time in Chengdu in the first round of the group stage – Italy won 18:6. The difference in the semifinal match was much bigger. Japan scored two goals in the first quarter (for 1:1 and 2:5) and that was all that the Asians’ attack managed to do in this match.

5^th-place match

Singapore – South Africa 5:14 (1:4, 1:5, 2:1, 1:4)

South Africa finished the Universiade in 5th place with a convincing win over Singapore.