Olympic Men’s Water Polo: Serbia Holds off Japan; Italy Handles U.S.

Italy's Franceso Di Fulvio shoots in a game against the United States on Sunday; Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Olympic Men’s Water Polo: Serbia Holds off Japan; Italy Handles U.S.

Serbia needed a goal in the final 100 seconds by Dusan Mandic to save blushes and stave off Japan, and Italy topped the United States in games on the first day of the men’s water polo tournament at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.

Italy beat the U.S., 12-8. Serbia’s 16-15 win was one of two one-goal results in the opening eight matches, with Hungary edging France, 13-12.

The U.S. hung with Italy for a half before a 4-1 margin for the Italians in the third. That frame featured both of Matteo Iocchi Gratta’s goals. Francesco Di Fulvio and Tommaso Gianazza also scored twice each as this year’s World Championships silver medalists had 10 players register a goal or an assist. Marco Del Lungo made seven saves in net.

Hannes Daube led the U.S. with three goals on 3-for-3 shooting and two assists. Alex Bowen and Max Irving scored twice each, Irving adding an assist. Adrian Weinberg stopped eight shots.

Serbia’s defense of its Tokyo gold nearly got off to a rocky start. It trailed a halftime and though never behind in the fourth quarter, Mandic’s goal with 1:35 left and two key defensive possessions were required for the Serbs to survive.

Mandic scored seven times to bail Serbia out, shooting 7-for-11. Nikola Jaksic added two goals and three assists.

Yusuke Inaba led Japan with six goals and two assists. Keigo Okawa registered a hat trick. Japan finished 10th in Tokyo and 12th in Rio, its first Olympics since 1984.

Soma Vogel made 12 saves to help Hungary hold off France. The host nation scored five times in the final quarter to make it interesting. Vince Vigvari tallied a hat trick to lead Hungary. Krisztian Manhercz contributed two goals and three assists, Marton Vamos two and two.

Thomas Vernoux tallied four times for the French. Michael Bodegas had a hat trick, and Hugo Fontani was valiant in net with 14 saves.

The best game on paper may have been between Croatia and Montenegro, the reigning world champion Croatia taking an 11-8 win. Loren Fatovic directed the Croatian audience with three goals and two assists. Rino Buric, Luka Bukic and Marko Zuvela scored twice each.

Bojan Djurdjic scored three times for Montenegro, which got 10 saves from Dejan Lazovic.

Spain opened the day with a 9-5 win over Australia thanks to 10 saves from Unai Aguirre. Alberto Munarriz collected a hat trick. Felipe Perrone paired two goals with three assists, and Alvaro Granados also scored twice. Milos Maksimovic and Angus Lambie led the Aussies with two goals apiece.

Greece handled Romania, 14-7, in the nightcap. Stylianos Argyropoulos scored four goals and set up two to lead the Greeks.

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