London 2012 Men's Water Polo: Live Results, Photos (August 2)

by NowPublic Staff | August 2, 2012 at 08:07 am

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Men's Water Polo Prelim Action at London 2012

The third round of Men's Water Polo prelims is underway at Water Polo Arena. We've got the scores. We've got the photos. Let's go poolside and catch up on the Water Polo action.

Men's Water Polo Prelims Results Aug 2: Group A

Spain 13-9 Australia
Greece 11-4 Kazakhstan
Croatia 11-6 Italy

Men's Water Polo Prelims Results Aug 2: Group B

Montenegro 11-11 Serbia
Hungary 17-15 Romania
USA 13-7 Great Britain

Hungary is getting its act together, defeating Romania in a very high-scoring game. Hungary has struggled in the tournament so far, losing its first two matches. Norbert Madaras (HUN) netted five goals. Hungary had more possessions, though Romania tended to hold onto the ball for longer. The two teams' shooting accuracy was nearly identical.

Montenegro held Serbia to a draw; this is interesting, as Serbia has stomped the competition in its first two games, and Montenegro beat Hungary but lost to the USA.

Spain handed Australia their second straight defeat. Looking at the scoring distribution on paper, one would think that Spain's players lined up and took RB's, but the game was much more hard-fought than that. Indeed, Aussie Billy Miller was a one-man army with five goals.

Meanwhile, Greece toppled Kazakhstan, with Ioannis Fountoulis outscoring the entire opposing team and continuing the five-goal-per-game trend. Something was up with Kazakhstan's shooting today, and it wasn't something good. We're glad we're not in the Kazakh locker room right now.

Captain Tony Azevedo has really come alive in the USA's match against hosts Great Britain, netting four goals. Ryan Baily, a beast so far in this tournament, has three. The Brits have been more active in terms of shooting, but just aren't finding the net; Moses Merrill and Chay Lapin are jealously guarding the goal line. So far, though, the most exciting goal is that of Craig Figes (GBR), who converted on a man-up in the final second of Q3.

Italy managed to close an early gap, but Croatia surged again halfway through the third quarter. After that, Niccolo Gitto's was the only Italian goal until the final whistle.

At the moment, Kazakhstan and Great Britain are looking like extreme long-shots to advance to the knockout stage, while Australia and Hungary are in the... danger zone.

As usual, words do not do this sport justice. Check out some new photos from the 2012 Olympic Men's Water Polo tournament below.

Fun Fact: did you know that Prince William used to play Water Polo? He was the captain of the Sterling University team. William used to write "WOW" on the front of his swimsuit, insisting that it stood for "William of Wales".