Sharks Suffer First up Defeat to Hosts Brazil

Published On: 7 August 2016

Water Polo: Australia 7 – 8 Brazil – Day 1

Athlete: Aaron Younger, Joel Swift, James Stanton-French, George Ford

Venue: Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre

   

The Australia men’s water polo team has suffered a disappointing 7-8 loss to hosts Brazil in their opening fixture of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games on Day 1.

Looking to become the first men’s team to win an Olympic medal, the Sharks were chasing a first up win over a team that traditionally they’d held dominance over.

However, in front of a vocal and passionate crowd, the Brazilians made a fast start and were able to hold-off Australia’s repeated attempts to salvage something from the game.

Brazil got out to a 3-2 lead at quarter-time and extended that margin by one goal at the half, with the score reading 5-3 to the hosts.

Australia improved in the second half but couldn’t make significant in-roads, reaching the third quarter break at 7-5, and whilst they did get within one-goal in the final stanza, Brazil held firm for a famous victory in the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre.

In other Group A fixtures, Hungary and Serbia played out a 13-all draw, whilst Greece edged Japan 8-7. In Group B, Croatia defeated the USA 7-5 and Montenegro recorded a 7-4 win over France.

Australia next play Hungary on Day 3 of competition.