There were not a lot of thrills on Day 1 of the water polo tournament at 18th Pan American Games in Lima (Peru).
Favorites recorded convincing wins. Only in one match, the gap between two sides was smaller than 10 goals (Argentina men’s team defeated Mexico 13:11).
The teams at the Pan American games play with 11-player rosters. All coaches decided to enter the competition with 10 field players and 1 goalkeeper.
2019 Pan American Games, Day 1
Men
GROUP A
Cuba – USA 6:21 (1:6, 0:5, 5:4, 0:6)
Cuba: Perez 2, Manzano 2, Rodriguez 1, Alonso 1.
USA: Bowen 5, Hooper 4, Obert 4, Daube 3, Hallock 3, Vavic 1, Smith 1
Canada – Puerto Rico 20:7 (4:0, 5:1, 7:2, 4:4)
Canada: Constantin-Bicari 5, Gardijan 3, Halajian 3, D’Souya 3, Soleimanipak 2, Torakis 2, Cote 1, Spooner 1.
Puerto Rico: Loubriel 3, Quinones 2, Millan Neives 1, Hernandez 1.
The USA Team opened their campaign with a big win over Cuba. The Americans jumped to a 12:1 lead early in the third period. By the end of this quarter, the Cubans managed to reduce the gap (6:15), but the USA dominated the last period with a 6:0 rush for a 21:6 win.
Canada had an easy task against Puerto Rico. After the third quarter, the Canadians had a 16:3 lead. The last period was balanced and Canada maintained the difference – 20:7.
1 USA 2
2 Canada 2
3 Puerto Rico 0
4 Cuba 0
August 5th: Canada – USA, Puerto Rico – Cuba.
GROUP B
Peru – Brazil 2:14 (0:3, 0:3, 1:5, 1:3)
Peru: Villar 1, Alzamora 1.
Brazil: Coutinho 3, Silva 3, Guimaraes 3, Freitas 2, P. Real 1, R. Real 1, Rocha 1.
Mexico – Argentina 11:13 (0:3, 3:6, 5:3, 3:1)
Mexico: Juarez 3, Alvarez 2, Gibert 2, Velazquez 1, Avalos 1, Paniagua 1, Mercado 1.
Argentina: Camnasio 5, Carabantes 3, Yanez 2, Echenique 1, Corsi 1, Veich 1.
Brazil did a clean job in a match with Peru. At halftime, the Brazilians were 6:0 up. In the middle of the third period, the hosts scored their first goal (1:6), before the Brazilians continued their domination for a 14:2 win.
Argentina gained a 3:0 lead in the first four minutes of the clash with Mexico, which scored two goals early in the 2nd quarter to come close (2:3). Argentina responded with 6 straight goals for a 9:2 advantage. But, Mexico started climbing back step-by-step.
The Mexicans were just one step behind the rival (11:12) with four minutes remaining on the clock. Soon after that, Argentina’s best scorer Carlos Camnasio found the net for the 5th time to set the final score – 13:11.
1 Brazil 2
2 Argentina 2
3 Mexico 0
4 Peru 0
August 5th:Brazil – Mexico, Peru – Argentina
Women
GROUP A
Brazil – Venezuela 15:4 (2:1, 4:2, 5:0, 4:1)
Brazil: Bahia 6, Coutinho 3, Belorio 2, Ferreira 2, G.Dias 1, Abla 1.
Venezuela: S. Torres 3, Y.Torres 1.
Puerto Rico – USA 3:23 (0:5, 0:6, 2:5, 1:7)
Puerto Rico: Quinones 1, Roman 1, Guzman 1.
USA: Haralabidis 6, Williams 3, M. Fischer 3, Fattal 2, A. Fischer 2, Neushul 1, Seidemann 1.
Reigning world champion the USA Team, led by Stephanie Haralabidis, who scored 6 goals, easily defeated Puerto Rico. Haralabidis was picked for the roster at the last moment. Twelve hours before the match, USA coach Adam Krikorian announced that Haralabidis would replace Paige Hauschild, who still hadn’t recovered from an injury on the right arm following the nightclub collapse on the last day of the World Championships in Gwangju.
The Brazilians controlled everything in their match with Venezuela and had no problems to earn an 11-goal victory (15:4).
1 USA 2
2 Brazil 2
3 Venezuela 0
4 Puerto Rico 0
August 5th: USA – Brazil, Puerto Rico – Venezuela.
GROUP B
Cuba – Canada 5:20 (1:4, 1:4, 0:7, 3:5)
Cuba: Bernal 3, Diaz Mesa 1, Grau Quintero 1.
Canada: Crevier 4, Fournier 4, Wright 3, Eggens 3, Alogbo 2, Bekhazi 2, McKee 1, Paul 1.
Peru – Mexico 1:22 (0:8, 1:5, 0:6, 0:3)
Peru: Gauthier 1.
Mexico: Floser 5, Ramirez 4, Sanchez 4, Espinoza 3, Perez 2, Ramos 2, Murrieta 1, Rios 1.
Canada earned its first points by beating Cuba (20:5), while Mexico taught a lesson to Peru (22:1).
Host Peru plays with the almost junior squad, as well as South Korea did at the World Championships in Gwangju. The hosts’ eldest player is captain Abigail Sirio (born in 1998), while most of the members of the team are 19 and 18 years old.
1 Mexico 2
2 Canada 2
3 Cuba 0
4 Peru 0
August 5th: Canada – Peru, Mexico – Cuba.
