KUWAIT: Kuwait National Water Polo team hopes to restore its balance when it plays against the USA at 21:50 pm today in the fourth round of Group C in the FINA World Men's Junior Water Polo Championship being held in Kuwait at HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Swimming Pools Complex with 20 countries participating.
Kuwait's team suffered its second loss in front of Montenegro, a team expected to win the championship, with the score of 7-42 of the second round, which saw the USA beat Iran 27-4.
The first round saw Kuwait losing to Iran 7-15, while Italy beat USA 18-11, then Italy beat Iran 16-4 yesterday.
Today's matches, Spain will face Canada at 12:10 pm, while Hungary which lost to Spain 7-9 in the first round, seeks to recover when it plays Russia at 4:10 pm, bearing in mind that Hungary beat Egypt 19-7 yesterday.
In Group D, Greece, the defending champion will not have any problem in moving to the quarter finals when it meets Uzbekistan at 10:50 am, while it will be a match of equal chances between Brazil and Australia when they meet at 9:30 am.
In Group A it will be a match for the top spot between Serbia and Croatia at 5:30 pm, while Japan will meet south Africa at 1:30 pm.
The second round which was held Friday saw Serbia beat Japan 13-7, China beat South Africa 14-13 in Group A, Spain beat Egypt 18-4, Canada beat Russia 12-10 in Group B, Greece beat New Zealand 14-5 and Brazil beat Uzbekistan 23-6 in Group D.
Meanwhile, President of Asian and Kuwait Swimming Federations Sheikh Khalid Al-Bader said Kuwait hosting the championship place in once again on the world's sports map following a lengthy suspension. He also appreciated the patronage of House Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim of this major event.
He pointed to the support of Public Authority of Sport (PAS) and its Director General Dr Humoud Fulaiteh and his Deputy Saqer Al-Mulla which made it easy to organize the championship, which it coincided with the opening of HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad swimming complex.
Egyptian coach Hisham Nafe said his team is trying hard to reach an advanced place in the championship, especially that it prepared well.
He said the Egyptian federation brought a foreign expert to overlook the national team's training.
He said Egypt found itself in a tough group with teams that are candidate to win the championship.
By Abdellatif Sharaa