Day 5: Austria-Singapore Challengers' Cup gold-medal final
Singapore, October 12.—Austria will play host Singapore in the gold-medal final of the FINA Water Polo Challengers’ Cup men’s tournament at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore.
Austria beat India 17-7 to take out Group B and be first into the final with four wins while India will have to play for seventh and eighth positions. Hong Kong secured third place in the group and will go on to play for fifth and sixth position after beating Chinese Taipei 30-14, thanks to nine goals by Chun Ip. Kong Chun Fung backed up with seven goals as Hong Kong was dominant throughout.
Singapore won Group A with an 11-8 margin over Ireland, the score flattered by a last-second penalty goal for the home team. Also in Group A, Malaysia picked up its first win with a 21-8 effort against winless Zimbabwe. Yi Xiang Toh was the leading light and player of the match for Malaysia, scoring five goals.
Final points:
Group A: Singapore 8, Ireland 6, Philippines 4, Malaysia 2, Zimbabwe 0.
Group B: Austria 8, Indonesia 6, Hong Kong 4, India 2, Chinese Taipei 0.
Saturday schedule:
Match 17, 15:00, Group B, HONG KONG 30 CHINESE TAIPEI 14
Match 18, 16:30, Group A, MALAYSIA 21 ZIMBABWE 8
Match 19, 18:00, Group B, INDIA 7 AUSTRIA 17
Match 20, 19:30, Group A, IRELAND 8 SINGAPORE 11
Sunday schedule:
Match 21, 10:00, Classification 9-10, Zimbabwe v Chinese Taipei
Match 22, 11:30, Classification 7-8, Malaysia v India
Match 23, 15:00, Classification 5-6, Philippines v Hong Kong
Match 24, 16:30, Classification 3-4, Ireland v Indonesia
Match 25, 16:30, Classification 1-2, Singapore v Austria
Match reports
Match 17, 15:00, Group B, HONG KONG 30 CHINESE TAIPEI 14
Quarters: 6-1, 9-5, 7-4, 8-4
Referees: Richard Dilapdilap (PHI), Chee Wee (MAS).
Extra man: HKG: 3/3. TPE: 2/4.
Penalties: HKG: 3/3. TPE: 1/1.
Teams:
HONG KONG: Cheuk Kong, Wang Yiu, Kong Chun Fung (7), Kong Ching Fung (1), Chun Ip (9), Hok Lau (1), Ho Ko (1), Cheuk Cheung (2), Ting Wong (2), Gilman Choi (2), Siu Cheng (2), Hei Cheng (3), Si Wong. Head Coach: Jinwen Zhao.
Hong Kong, improving with every match, backed up its victory over India the day before with a resounding result against Chinese Taipei, which stays winless. Both teams made mistakes with each goalkeeper losing the ball to an attacker and pushed into goal in the third period. Too often loose defence made easy shots at random periods and tighter control would have made this a closer encounter. Both teams looked tired at times and defence was lax. Everyone had a chance to build on his scoring tally with Kong Chun Fung doing what he does best with seven goals by the final break. Chun Ip equalled his tally of seven with four goals in the final quarter, and then brought up No 9 — his sixth of the quarter — with 39 seconds remaining. His ability to push the ball on the drive into goal is just amazing, using this motion at least twice. More pressure is needed on the outside shooter if these teams are to improve internationally. The result allowed Hong Kong to fill third place in the group and a shot at fifth position on Sunday. Chinese Taipei will play off for ninth and 10th as it finished fifth and last in the group.
Match 18, 16:30, Group A, MALAYSIA 21 ZIMBABWE 8
Quarters: 4-0, 7-1, 2-4, 8-3
Referees: Sergey Naumov (RUS), Wan-Yu Chang (TPE).
Extra man: MAS: 4/7. ZIM: 1/5.
Penalties: MAS: 1/1.
Teams:
MALAYSIA: Huan Chee, Yi Tan(3), Bryan Wong (4), Yi Xiang Toh (5), Joanah Boonchuay (2), Yi Hang Toh (2), Irshad Mohd (2), Tzw Khieu (3), Jesaiah Abraham, Zhao Heong, Vivekanandan Sharvin, Wenhang Lai, Xu Lee. Head Coach: Yong Voon.
ZIMBABWE: Dylan Woodhouse, Alexander Zwart (1), Giovanni Fargnoli (4), Conor King, Johannes Kloppers, Bradley Crause, Brendon Werrett (2), Tyler Rowe, Justin Buchanan, Bruce Botton (1), Rhyder Quinlan, Craig Bydawell, Luke Lister. Head Coach: Tyron Jardine.
The 2017 SEA Games bronze medallist, Malaysia, collected its first win of the tournament with a swimaway 21-8 victory over Zimbabwe, who finished fifth. Malaysia will play for seventh and eighth on Sunday while Zimbabwe will hope for its first win, against Chinese Taipei in the ninth-place classification match. Yi Xiang Toh was the revelation for Malaysia with his four goals, speedy swimming and fine shot selection when faced with the talented goalkeeping of Zimbabwean Dylan Woodhouse, who played the first three periods. Woodhouse failed to get support at the back as Malaysia out-swum the bigger Zimbabweans. Giovanni Fargnoli scored his four goals in the second half, using his strong left arm to excellent effect. Zimbabwean captain Brendon Werrett would have been hoping more from his, but his two goals were muscle shots that could have been used on more occasions had he received the ball. Malaysia would be happy with the result and the manner in which was achieved. The improvement from each day proved most infectious and sets the team up for December’s SEA Games in the Philippines.
Match 19, 18:00, Group B, INDIA 7 AUSTRIA 17
Quarters: 3-4, 2-6, 1-1, 1-6
Referees: Stephen O’Brien (IRE),
Extra man: IND: 2/6. AUT: 1/5.
Penalties: IND: 1/1.
Teams:
INDIA: Babu Aneesh, Kunde Ashwinikumar (1), Dharumarasu Manimaran, Sasi Aneeshkumar (1), Sisupalan Shibinlal, Yadav Vishal, Varghese Sibin (1), Gireesh Anathu, Uttekar Uday (2), Kadukkattil Rahul (1), Gopinathan Praveen (1), Vaidya Shreyas, Surendran Jithu. Head Coach: Ajitsingh Shobhawhat.
AUSTRIA: Salkan Samardzic, Tobias Schlappack, Nick Vondrak (3), Bernhard Fridrik, Tobias Lang (2), Eldin Ribic (1), Albert Schimidt, Aleksandar Antovic (1), Marko Bosnjak (4), Johannes Gratzl (2), Markus Cech (2), Florian Lukas (2), Filip Popic. Head Coach: Barnabas Steinmetz.
Austria is the class team of the tournament and under the watchful eye of Hungarian dual Olympic champion Barnabas Steinmetz as its coach, the result was never in doubt. India promised so much earlier in the week, but its loss to Hong Kong put away any chance it had of a higher placing. India came back at Austria after being 8-3 behind in the second quarter, finishing the period 9-5 down. This was achieved by India’s smart play and swift passing in front of goal, picking the best opportunity to score. Austria used its strength and power and the accurate left arm of Marko Bosnjak who had the ability to thread the need from deep right. It had the final berth before the match and had the luxury of being able to lose and still advance. However, pride and the knowledge it is the best team in Singapore was enough to surge home a comfortable winner. This was one of the best matches for tight defence, showing that defence makes goals at the other end. With Salkan Samardzic in exceptional form, it was hard for India to get past him, especially in the dying seconds of the third period as Ashwinikumar had his counter shot block and his rebound lob dragged down. The fact that the period yielded just two goals says a lot for both teams. Babu Aneesh had a star role for India, making many saves in goal and denying Austria a much larger score. However, the floodgates opened in the final quarter as Austria rammed home its advantage ahead of the final.
Match 20, 19:30, Group A, IRELAND 8 SINGAPORE 11
Quarters: 2-4, 1-1, 2-3, 3-3
Referees: Joe Peila (USA), Paul Kovac (AUT).
Extra man: IRE: 4/8. SGP 3/12.
Penalties: IRE: 2/2. SGP: 1/2
Teams:
IRELAND: Eoin Doyle, Mark Moran, Stevie Nolan (1), Cillian Colvin, Mathew Hanna, Adam Caulfield (1), Stiofan McMahon (3), Jonathan Donnelly, Eoin Bridgmont (1), Eoin Nolan (2), Adrian Hanna, Ciaran Walshe, Shane O’Brien. Head Coach: Goran Sablic.
SINGAPORE: Darren Lee, An Jun Ang (2), Yee Ooi, Jing Chow (1), Wayne Chong (1), Wen Goh, Kun Chiam, Jayden See, Jun Yu (1), Yee Tang (1), Cheng-Kang Lee (1), Jian Koh (3), Kai Lee. Head Coach: Dejan Milakovic.
Ireland was always going to be a thorn in Singapore’s side. With no semifinals, it is a cut-throat tournament and victory is the only way through to the final. Singapore opened in the first attack with Ireland equalising four minutes later. Singapore had the quarter advantage, maintained it at two by halftime and three times stretched it to three with Stiofan McMahon pulling back two for the Irish. A missed penalty shot, which bounced into the bar, could have sealed the match for Singapore at 5:50. It was two and a half minutes that some sort of certainty came when An Jun Ang converted extra from the near right post with a delayed shot, which caught the goalie off guard. Stevie Nolan converted a penalty foul to bring it back to three, but Jing Chow blasted in a goal from close in for 10-6 at 2:46 — fatal for Ireland. Eoin Nolan swatted in a watery cross-pass for 10-7, but it was far too late. Singapore rushed an attack and lost the ball, Ireland punishing with a goal by Adam Caulfield from deep right. Singapore gained a penalty foul in the last second and Cheng-Kang Lee made sure of the shot for the flattering margin. Singapore will play Austria for gold and Ireland will take on Indonesia for bronze.
