Sharks Record First Win at FINA World Champs

The Aussie Sharks have recorded their first win of the FINA World Championships after defeating France 11-10.

In a nail biting match, there was little between the sides throughout, with captain Aaron Younger leading his side to victory with three crucial goals in the third quarter.

Australian Head Coach Elvis Fatovic said both sides had a lot to play for which was clear throughout the game.

“You could see high anxiety on both side. There were ups and downs for both teams.

“We made some naive mistakes in the last quarter; without those we could have finished this game much earlier, but that’s quite a good lesson and experience for us, because most of our players had never played in a major tournament before,” he said.

Rio Olympian George Ford admitted it was a tough battle for the Aussie Sharks with the team set to take away many valuable lessons.

“Overall it is good to get a win – it was a must win game to go through to the next phase of the Tournament.

“We had some strong patches that we can take some confidence out of, but we did let ourselves down in defence so we need to go away and look at that game and work on our systems to come out against Italy,” Ford said.

It was a do or die match with both sides coming into the game off the back of a loss. Scores were locked at half time and it was in the third quarter that the Aussies made their move with captain Aaron Younger scoring three consecutive goals to put the Aussies in front by two leading into the final quarter.

The French were not about to go down without a fight and while the Aussie Sharks had a good lead throughout it came down to the final minute before a relieved Australian side could celebrate the one goal victory.

The Aussies now turn their attention towards a formidable Italian line-up who they’ll meet in the final preliminary round match on July 22 at 3:30am (Perth time).

– with WaterPoloAus