Australia Bounce Back to Winning Ways at World Champs

The Australian Stingers and Sharks have both returned to
winning ways in their second group stage matches after opening round defeats at
the FINA World Championships in Korea.

The Stingers fought hard for a two goal (14-12) win over
China, whilst the Sharks proved too strong for Kazakhstan, running out
comfortable 17-8 winners.

The win for the women’s team was a deserved reward following
their narrow defeat in their opening fixture against European heavyweight
Italy.

Having lost that match to the 2016 Olympic silver medallists
by a single goal, the Stingers ensured they’d keep themselves in contention for
the cross-over phase with a tense win over China, which was set up in the second
quarter.

Nothing separated the sides outside of the decisive second
quarter, with the Stingers’ five goal to three advantage in that span, forming
the end margin after the first, third and final quarters were all level
pegging.

Zoe Arancini contributed one goal to the Stingers’ total,
with the team closing out its group stage fixtures on Thursday with a match
against the winless Japan. 

The Sharks team needed to make a statement in their match
with Kazakhstan after they’d been outplayed in their first up defeat against
traditional powerhouse Croatia.

The reigning world champion scored 14 goals to Australia’s
four in the opening fixture but the Sharks responded in positive manner against
the Kazaks – regularly finding the back of the cage to kill the contest by half-time,
en route to a dominant nine goal win.

They face a crunch clash with the USA in their final group
match, needing a win to secure a top-two berth for the next phase of the
tournament. 

The Sharks’ squad includes four WA members, with dual Olympian
Aaron Younger captaining the side, which also includes George Ford, Andy Ford
and Tim Putt.