Game 1 – Hungary 13, China 11
Group B of the women’s water polo tournament was given the “group of death” distinction thanks to all four teams being young, talented and medal worthy in Rio. Two of those teams, Hungary and China, faced off in the first game of the women’s tournament Tuesday morning looking for a good start to their chase for a first Olympic water polo medal.
The two teams battled to a 6-6 tie at halftime, but a six goal third quarter by Hungary was too much for the Chinese to overcome as they fell 13-11.
China defeated Hungary 9-8 the last time they played in the World Championships. Both teams featured the top two scorers from that tournament – Hungary’s Rita Keszthelyi was No. 1 and China’s Zihan Zhao was No. 2.
Both played a big part of Tuesday’s match, with Keszthelyi notching three scores for her team and Zhao two for hers.
After China quickly took the lead to start the second half, Hungary rattled off four unanswered goals in four minutes to take a three goal lead, their largest of the day. Two more goals helped the Hungarians take a 12-9 lead into the final eight minutes.
China’s defense held on in the fourth, only allowing one Hungarian goal, but their own two scores weren’t enough to catch up.
Dora Czigany led all scorers with four goals for Hungary. Guanna Niu and Huanhuan Ma had three goals each for China.
The Chinese converted five of their seven extra player shots, and were 2-2 on penalty shots, however they were just 2-7 from beyond five meters.
The road for China doesn’t get any easier, as they will take on defending gold medalists the U.S.A. on Thursday at 10:40 a.m. ET. Hungary will take on Spain Thursday at noon.
Women’s water polo coverage continues at 9:20 a.m. ET with Italy taking on Brazil