Sharks Rio Journey Ends

Water Polo: Australia v Greece
Athlete: Aaron Younger, Joel Swift, James Stanton-French, George Ford
Venue: Olympic Aquatics Stadium

The Rio dream is over for the Australian men’s water polo team after the final round of group stage matches commenced on Day 9.

The Sharks headed into their clash with Greece knowing that destiny was out of their hands, based on two previous defeats to hosts Brazil and Serbia and draw with Hungary. Although the Australians produced a high quality 12-7 win over Greece, they needed Brazil to spring a similar upset over Hungary, with a two goal margin or Japan to defeat gold medal favourites Serbia, but neither result transpired, ending Australia’s 2016 Olympic campaign.

Captain Rhys Howden said the team were determined to come out and give it their all today, and do it not just for the team but also for their family and friends in the stands.

“I think today we came out and definitely wanted to put in a good show,” said Howden.

Australia’s leading goal scorer for the tournament, West Aussie Aaron Younger, summed up the situation neatly for the Sharks.

“It was good to win finally but really we peaked a bit late in the tournament.”

“We definitely improved throughout the week. It was just a bit unfortunate we weren’t there for the first game when we really needed to be.”

Australia came out strong against the Greeks, taking a commanding lead of 10-4 at half time. While Greece fought back in the second half and managed to put up a strong defence against the Aussies, there was no taking away from strong form from the Aussies.

In other results:

Brazil 6 v 10 Hungary
Serbia 12 v 8 Japan