London 2012 Men's Water Polo Prelims: Photos, Results August 4

by NowPublic Staff | August 4, 2012 at 08:39 am

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Olympic Water Polo: Latest Prelim Scores; Photos as they Emerge

The Men's Water Polo tournament is only halfway through at the London 2012 Olympics: the toughest team sport also has the toughest tournament. This is the fourth preliminary round (out of five). USA-Serbia is today: that's not one to miss.

Here are the results so far, which we will update as they come in.

Water Polo Prelim Results August 4: Group A

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

Water Polo Prelim Results August 4: Group B

Montenegro 12-8 Romania
Hungary 17-6 Great Britain
USA 11-6 Serbia

London 2012 Men's Water Polo Event Page

Romania managed to match Montenegro goal for goal in Q4, but it was too late: Montenegro was able to maintain a four-point lead, with hole-set Boris Zlokovic netting two in the final quarter.

Gavin Woods struck early for Australia, unanswered until near the end of Q1. However, answer Croatia did, outscoring the Aussies in each consecutive quarter and establishing an daunting lead by the opening moments of Q4. A rally by Australia in the final two minutes of play was unable to win the day.

Q4 of Italy-Kazakhstan was probably the longest stretch of scorelessness we've seen so far in London: both sides were showing off their defense and stealing ability. Sergey Gubarev's last-minute goal was exciting, but the game was effectively over at that point.

Greece may have lost to Spain, but how awesome was Agyris Theodoroupolis' last-second Q1 goal? Evangelos Delakas and Christos Afroudakis again flirted with the shot-and game clocks at the end of Q2 and Q4. Felipe Perrone Rocha (ESP) had a brilliant game, with two goals and five assists.

Hungary made a convincing case to stay in the competition, nearly tripling Great Britain's score.

Serbia has handed the USA its first defeat of the tournament as we reach the midpoint of Q4. The USA still only drops to the number-two spot in Group B.

Men's Water Polo Group Standings

Kazakhstan and Great Britain are looking down the barrel of elimination: Great Britain has to beat both Hungary and Montenegro to stay alive: no easy task, to put it mildly.

As with the August 3 Women's Water Polo prelims, photos have been late to emerge... but best believe we'll share them as soon as we get them. Check out pics from the action below.