Historic Gold For Water Polo Men at Universiade

The Australian Men’s Water Polo team, coached by WAIS coach Paul Oberman and featuring four WAIS athletes, has created history at the Universiade after becoming the first Australian men’s team to win a gold medal at a major world competition.

Oberman’s team went through the entirety of the tournament undefeated, capping the week long event witha come from behind 6-4 win over Croatia in the gold medal match. Luke Quinlivan, Nick O’Halloran, Joel Swift and Aaron Younger continued the strong WAIS flavour to the gold medal winning team with all four playerstaking to the pool in the final.

The Australians started the match slowly, falling two goals behind by the end of the first quarter, before clawing their way back in the second and tying the scores at 2-2 by the half.

The third stanza was a tight affair with goals on offer at both ends of the pool, Oberman’s side having the better of the exchanges though to outscore Croatia 3-2 for the term and open a 5-4 lead going into the last.

A solitary goal in the final quarter went Australia’s way and the team’s incredible run at the tournament was complete with a 6-4 win in the final.

Quinlivan was a standout performer in the final, making an outstanding 17 saves between the postsat 81%. Younger was also in good touch, scoring two crucial goals.

After the match Oberman shared his excitement at the historic acheivement.

“I feel fantastic,” he told the Universiade website.

“We made a winning combination of youth and experience. This is a big achievement, we can celebrate now… At this moment, I am a very happy coach.”

EarlierAustralia defeated the home side Serbia 7-6 in the semi final to earn a place in the gold medal match.

Despite playing in front of a parochial home crowd the Australians were in control of a tight match throughout with Quinlivan continuing a fine tournament in the net, making a number of crucial saves including a 5m penalty in the final quarter.