Aussie Juniors Finish Second in Group

The Australian men’s junior water polo team has bounced back from its opening group match defeat to Serbia with back to back wins over Mexico and Iran to secure second place at the World Championships in Kazakhstan.

A 15-5 victory over Iran followed a comprehensive 20-5 win over Mexico, after the disappointment of their opening 20-9 loss to competition heavyweights Serbia.

WAIS is represented by three athletes in Almaty, with Jordan Kremers-Taylor, Andrew Ford and Will Mackay all members of the Australian junior side.

All three found a rich vein of goal scoring form too, with Ford contributing five goals in the win over Iran, whilst Kremers-Taylor and Mackay added two each.

Ford, speaking after the Iran match said the team was pleased to have secured second place in their group, with a strong defence the catalyst for their expanded potency in counter attack.

“Today we were able to create and capitalise on multiple counter attacking opportunities early in the game, which were set up from effective press defence,” he said.

“It was a convincing and important win to place second in our pool, and we are now looking forward to the knockout stages of the competition.”

The Australians will face either the Netherlands or Greece in their first knockout match.