Day 4: FINA Water Polo Challengers' Cup in Singapore
Singapore, October 11.— Group A is wide open after fourth-day action of the FINA Water Polo Challengers’ Cup men’s tournament at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore.
Ireland beat Malaysia 15-7 to remain unbeaten and set up a showdown with Singapore on Saturday for the group decider and direct entry to Sunday’s gold-medal final. Singapore beat Philippines 11-7 after trailling 4-5, to be also unbeaten.
In Group B, Hong Kong upset India 13-10 with Kong Ching Fung netting six goals for the victor. Kunde Ashwinikumar responded with a goal in each quarter for India. Austria laid claim to the group with a toughly fought 11-9 victory over previously unbeaten Indonesia in what virtually the group decider. Goalkeeper Salkan Samardzic was the player of the match, keeping his team in the title hunt. Indonesia has finished its round matches and must now prepare for the bronze-medal encounter while Austria could lose to India on Saturday and still go t o the golden match.
Progress points:
Group A: Singapore 6, Ireland 6, Philippines 4, Malaysia 0, Zimbabwe 0.
Group B: Austria 6, Indonesia 6, Hong Kong 2, India 2, Chinese Taipei 0.
Friday schedule:
Match 13, 15:00, Group B, HONG KONG 17 INDIA 13
Match 14, 16:30, Group A, MALAYSIA 7 IRELAND 15
Match 15, 18:00, Group B, INDONESIA 9 AUSTRIA 11
Match 16, 19:30, Group A, PHILIPPINES 7 SINGAPORE 11
Saturday schedule:
Match 17, 15:00, Group B, HONG KONG CHINESE TAIPEI
Match 18, 16:30, Group A, MALAYSIA ZIMBABWE
Match 19, 18:00, Group B, INDIA AUSTRIA
Match 20, 19:30, Group A, IRELAND SINGAPORE
Match reports
Match 13, 15:00, Group B, HONG KONG 17 INDIA 13
Quarters: 5-3, 5-3, 3-3, 4-4
Referees: Kum Weng Lau (SGP), Chee Wee (MAS).
Extra man: HKG: 4/8. IND: 5/5.
Penalties: HKG: 3/3. IND: 1/1.
Teams:
HONG KONG: Cheuk Kong, Wang Yiu (1), Kong Chun Fung (2), Kong Ching Fung (6) , Chun Ip, Hok Lau, Ho Ko, Cheuk Cheung, Ting Wong, Gilman Choi (2), Siu Cheng, Hei Cheng (3), Si Wong. Head Coach: Jinwen Zhao.
INDIA: Babu Aneesh, Kunde Ashwinikumar (4), Dharumarasu Manimaran, Sasi Aneeshkumar (2), Sisupalan Shibinlal, Yadav Vishal, Varghese Sibin (2), Gireesh Anathu, Uttekar Uday (3), Kadukkattil Rahul, Gopinathan Praveen, Shreyas Vaidya (1), Surendran Jithu. Head Coach: Ajitsingh Shobhawhat.
Hong Kong gained its first win, defeating India 13-10 in what was an excellent match between two equal teams. India had chances, but failed to ram home the advantage, despite scoring five from five on extra-man attack. The loss would have hurt as India slipped to fourth place in the group, although it has already had a lay day. Hong Kong managed to work the penalty fouls and gained three penalty goals to India’s one, making up somewhat for its poorer extra-man conversion. It was level midway through the first quarter before Hong Kong went two up by the break thanks to a penalty strike just before the buzzer. A 7-4 lead was trimmed to 7-6 in the second quarter before pushing out to 10-6 by halftime with the three penalty goals in the bag. Uttekar Uday opened the second-half scoring with his third goal, this time on counter. Goals were swapped until the final break with Hong Kong seemingly confident at 13-9 with the Hong Kong goal a grappling shot from Cong Ching Fung. India struggled to get the deficit trimmed, although it did narrow to 13-11, 14-12 before Hong Kong rattled in three goals for 17-12 just inside the final minute before closing at 17-12.
Match 14, 16:30, Group A, MALAYSIA 7 IRELAND 15
Quarters: 2-2, 3-5, 1-5, 1-3
Referees: Sergey Naumov (RUS), Paul Kovac (AUT).
Extra man: MAS: 2/8. IRE: 4/5.
Penalties: IRE: 1/1.
Teams:
MALAYSIA: Huan Chee, Yi Tan (1), Bryan Wong (1), Yi Xiang Toh (1), Joanah Boonchuay, Yi Hang Toh (1), Irshad Mohd (2), Tzw Khieu (1), Jesaiah Abraham, Zhao Heong, Vivekanandan Sharvin, Wenhang Lai, Xu Lee. Head Coach: Yong Voon.
IRELAND: Eoin Doyle, Mark Moran, Stevie Nolan, Cillian Colvin, Mathew Hanna (1), Adam Caulfield, Stiofan McMahon (2), Jonathan Donnelly, Eoin Bridgmont (1), Eoin Nolan (6), Adrian Hanna (3), Ciaran Walshe (2), Shane O’Brien. Head Coach: Goran Sablic.
Ireland maintained its unbeaten run here with another strong showing, thanks to the awesome Eoin Nolan, who seems capable of scoring from anywhere. His ability to lob, drive, turn at centre forward and his unerringly accurate shot selection gives Ireland the edge. Stiofan McMahon is always handy, especially with his lob, and Adrian Hanna came good with a hat-trick of goals in the middle quarters, which earned him player of the match. Malaysia had to come back and tried hard to stay in the match with a variety of shooters. Both teams had excellent short passes that led to successful shots. One of the best shots came from Yi Xiang Toh with a backhander from the right-post position while angled to the left — a hard shot that crossed the cage for 13-7. The match was lost for Malaysia by this stage and kept it winless heading into the final day of group play on Saturday. Mathew Hanna joined his brother as a scorer, converting extra-man attack after a timeout from the deep right for 14-7. Nolan, muscled another centre-forward goal at 0:22 for his sixth to embellish an already fine match by Ireland. Ireland now heads to Saturday for the group decider with Singapore and direct berth to Sunday’s gold-medal final, probably against Austria.
Match 15, 18:00, Group B, INDONESIA 9 AUSTRIA 11
Quarters: 0-3, 5-2, 1-3, 3-3
Referees: Joe Peila (USA), Christopher Davison (ZIM).
Extra man: INA: 3/10. AUT: 3/8.
Penalties: INA: 1/2.
Team:
INDONESIA: Madb Arsana, Beby Tarigan, Muhammad Firdaus, Silvester Goldberg (1), Fakri Mahmud, Andi Uwayzulqarni, Yusif Budiman (2), Rezza Putra, Delvin Feliciano (1), Ridjkie Mulia (3), Rian Rinaldo (1), Zaenal Arifin (1), Niovian Dwiputra. Head Coach: Milos Sakovic.
AUSTRIA: Salkan Samardzic, Tobias Schlappack, Nick Vondrak (2), Bernhard Fridrik (1), Tobias Lang, Eldin Ribic (1), Albert Schimidt, Aleksandar Antovic (2), Marko Bosnjak, Johannes Gratzl, Markus Cech (2), Florian Lukas (3), Filip Popic. Head Coach: Barnabas Steinmetz.
If there was one sure bet in Singapore, it was that Austria would get to the gold-medal final and probably take top spot on the podium. Indonesia had different ideas despite a poor start. Austria was all over the Asians in the first quarter and Indonesia was all over Austria in the second period. Indonesia scored four of the first five goals in the second quarter and had Austria reeling. Bad defence, allowing Indonesia to get a little space, proved critical to the scoreboard. To come from three down to level at four through Yusif Budiman who accepted a pass from deep right on to his right-post position to score. Zaenal Arifin took Indonesia ahead with an easy, unmarked goal from the deep right-hand-catch position. Bernhard Fridrik answered quickly with a backhand from centre forward with 16 seconds left in the half. Indonesia drew a penalty foul and it looked like its top scorer, Ridjkie Mulia, would gain his 29th goal, only for Salkan Samardzic to block. Mulia gained a second chance from the five-metre line at the top of the third period and made no mistake for the 6-5 advantage. Austria was on the comeback trail and Aleksandar Antovic dragged down a long cross-pass on the far post, followed by Nick Vondrak scoring from the left-hand-catch position into the bottom right of the goal for 7-6 at 5:12. Sadly for Indonesia, Florian Lukas nailed his second — and most important — when his outside shot was tipped high and over the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Niovian Dwiputra for 8-6. The crucial goal changed the nature of the match. And left the 2017 SEA Games silver medallist unsettled at three-quarter time. Indonesia plucked two goals to bring it back to 9-8 at 5:20 and in between Dwiputra stopped three of five Austrian attempts. The desperation of the Austrians was finally rewarded through Lukas from the right-hand catch-position for 10-8 at 4:33. Mulia blasted in his 30th goal from well outside into the bottom left for a one-goal deficit at 3:11, bringing the crowd on to its feet. Eldin Ribic scored just as Mulia had for the two-goal difference on the next attack for 11-9. Player-of-the-match Samardzic blocked a Rezza Putra shot with a minute left and Austria was he survivor and eventual victor. An Indonesian timeout was not enough to bridge the gap and sadly, Indonesia will not probably be in the final, a position it could rightfully claim. The extra-man-advantage count worked against Indonesia and the missed penalty was also a telling factor.
Match 16, 19:30, Group A, PHILIPPINES 7 SINGAPORE 11
Quarters: 1-4, 4-3, 1-2, 1-2
Referees: Sergey Naumov (RUS), Sanket Shinde (IND).
Extra man: PHI: 2/6. SGP: 3/8.
Penalties: PHI: 1/1. SGP: 1/1.
Teams:
PHILIPPINES: Tani Gomez, Matthew Royce, Macgyver Reyes (1), Mark Valdez (1), Mico Anota, Vincent Sicat, Reynaldo Salonga, Teordoro Canete, Romark Belo (1), Adam Gonzales, Muammar Alamara (3), Juan Serrano (1), Abnel Amiladjid. Head Coach: Dale Evangelisa.
SINGAPORE: Darren Lee, An Jun Ang, Yee Ooi, Jing Chow, Wayne Chong, Wen Goh (1), Kun Chan, Jayden See, Jun Yu (3), Yee Tang, Cheng-Kang Lee (4), Jian Koh (3), Kai Lee. Head Coach: Dejan Milakovic.
From one nail-biter to another. At the sharper end of the tournament, these two teams brought quality play to the stadium and a desire to score goals whenever possible. Singapore controlled the first quarter and Philippines for much of the second. Singapore started like it wanted the gold medal, racing to 3-0 and then 4-1, looking to take the match by the scruff and swim away. Philippines scored the first two goals of the second with Muammar Alamara striking from two metres and Juan Serrano from the penalty line. Singapore, shockingly, failed to convert two penalty goals — one block and the second well wide to the right. Romark Belo into the top left and Alamara pulling one down on a cross pass, shot Philippines into the lead at 5-4. Singapore looked a shambles. However, with the crowd calling for more Singaporean goals, the national team responded with three straight, including a powerful centre-forward goal from Jun Yu. Singapore, surprisingly, was 7-5 ahead at the long break. Singapore shot to 8-5 at the start of the third quarter through Cheng-Kang Lee for his fourth goal — the major upset appeared to be stifled. At 4:13, Alamara gained his hat-trick from outside nano-seconds before the buzzer called end of possession time to bring it within two goals. A defensive mix-up left Yu free at two metres to score and regain the three-goal margin. It was a 5-1 session of play heading into the final break. The pride of both nations was at stake in the final quarter as these teams are expected to compete for gold at December’s SEA Games in Philippines. Don’t tell Indonesia that! Macgyver Reyes scored his first goal of the tournament on counter to breathe life into Philippines’ hopes, but man-of –the-match Yu at centre forward and Wen Goh from point blank made it 11-7 and a winning score.
