UniversalSports.com Daily Coverage, including webcasts
ROME, Italy, July 30. DAY 12 of water polo action is in the books at the FINA World Championships with men's semifinal and classification matches complete.
Semifinals heading into the medal matches occurred. Serbia clipped Croatia, 12-11. Filip Filipovic tallied four goals for Serbia, which connected on 12 of 21 shot with an efficient 57.1 percent success rate. Miho Boskovic totaled four goals to lead Croatia, which went 11-for-24.
The U.S. fell to Spain, 7-6, in the other semifinal match. Guillermo Molina scored three times for Spain, which went 7-for-27. Jeffrey Powers tallied two goals for the U.S., which converted 6 of 22 shots.
In the first 5th-8th place semifinal, Hungary topped Romania, 13-8. Gergely Kiss led the way with three goals as Hungary scored on 13 of 24 shots for a 54.2 percent success rate. Romania had a balanced attack with eight different players scoring, as Romania went 8-for-27.
In the second 5th-8th place semi, Germany bettered Canada, 9-5. Marc Politze tickled the twine four times for Germany, which converted on 9 of 26 shots. Justin Boyd and Devon Diggle each scored twice for Canada, which went 5-for-23.
Montenegro edged Australia, 8-7, in the 9th-10th place contest. Aleksandar Ivovic posted a hat trick for Montenegro, which went 8-for-23. Richard Campbell paced Australia with two goals, as the Aussie scored on 7 of 28 shots.
Italy doubled up China, 14-7, in the 11th-12th place match. Matteo Aicardi accounted for five goals, while Federico Mistrangelo tallied four for Italy, which connected on 14 of 29 shots. Liang Zhongxing totaled three goals for China, which went 7-for-36.