Australian Juniors Progress at World Champs

Australia has finished the preliminary stage of the FINA World Junior Championships with three wins and a draw from their four games after defeating Puerto Rico 13-4 in the last of their group matches in Volos, Greece.

The result ensures the Australian Juniors progress to the next phase of the competition, after finishing second in Group A behind hosts Greece.

The Australian Junior squad has a strong WAIS presence, with scholarship holders Edward Slade, James Fannon, Sam Quinn, Aaron Younger, George Ford and Nick Redbond all featuring in the championship.

The young Aussies put in a slow start early on against the Central Americans going into the main break with only four goals on the board.

A nine goal second half led by Paul Sindone who netted twice in the third period rocketed Australia out to a large score line, but coach Adam Richardson was still critical of his teams’ inaccuracy.

“Poor shooting and shot selection remains a concern for us and is a problem we have to cure in the next couple of days,” Richardson said.

The team did find a positive though in the range of scorers, with eight of the team finding the back of the cage.

Sindone ended the game with three goals with left-handed sharpshooter Adam Polivka also bagging three.

Australia will have to wait until tonight’s last preliminary matches to find out there next opponent, with USA the most likely after Greece defeated France 12-5 to become favourites to take out the group.

The next stage of the tournament begins on Thursday September 1.

– Australian Water Polo