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Aussies make history with water polo gold

The Aussie Sharks have beaten Brazil in the FINA World Intercontinental final to win their first ever gold medal at a major international water polo event.

The Australian men's water polo team have won their first-ever gold medal at a major international event.

The Aussie Sharks, at their defensive best, beat Brazil 9-6 in the final on Saturday to take out the FINA World Intercontinental tournament in Carona del Mar, California.

It marked their sixth straight win in as many days.

"It is not easy to play six international games in six days, and we won them all," head coach Elvis Fatovic said.

"We played our best defence for the tournament against Brazil and that allowed us a comfortable situation in attack.

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"We stopped their counter attack, which helped us dominate through the game."

Unlike the two sides' first clash in the tournament opener, it was the Australians who took the early lead - up 2-1 at quarter time.

The score blew out to 6-3 by half-time, before the Sharks piled on three unanswered goals to be 9-4 at the final change.

Two-time Olympian James Stanton-French was the standout performer, saving 10 of Brazil's shooting attempts to be named goalkeeper of the event.

Aiden Roach hoped the victory was the start of something big for the Sharks.

"It was a great way to finish the tournament, especially with the defensive effort we put in today," he said.

"Hopefully this provides us with a solid platform to work from for the FINA World League Super Final in Italy (from June 23-28)."

Following the Super Final, Australia will contest the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia from August 5-16.


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


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