World Championships: Italy Tops Serbia in Shootout on Second Day of Men’s Water Polo
Italy capped a long day at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships with a penalty shootout win over Serbia, 17-16, on Monday in Singapore.
The day opened with the United States stopping Brazil, 16-7, and included a 13-11 thriller won by Croatia over Montenegro.
Giacomo Cannella was the hero for Italy, scoring in the fifth round of the shootout to put the Italians over the top. The first six scorers all scored before the goalies had their say. Italy’s Gianmarco Nicosia stopped Boris Vapenski in the fourth round and Milos Cuk in the fifth. His opposite number, Lazar Dobozanov, stopped Alessandro Velotto in the fourth round, but Cannella found a way past in the fifth to send Italy top of Group A by a point over Serbia.
Getting a point from the game was a great result for Serbia, which trailed 13-10 with 3:53 left in regulation after Matteo Iocchi Gratta scored. Dusan Mandic scored a penalty goal then on the power play, and Vasilije Martinovic’s power-play tally with six seconds left sent the game to the shootout.
Nicosia led the Italians with 13 saves. Iocchi Gratta shot 3-for-3 from the field. Francesco Di Fulvio added three goals and two assists. Cannella scored four times but took 15 shots to get there.
Mandic characteristically led Serbia with six goals on nine shots. Martinovic was 4-for-4 shooting on the day. Radoslav Filipovic stopped 14 shots in regulation before giving way to Dobozanov.
Marko Bijac made 11 saves, including one with 18 seconds left, as Croatia pulled out a wild one over Montenegro. The Montenegrins pulled within one goal on three occasions in the fourth quarter before Rino Buric’s goal with one second left sealed the game for Croatia.
Luka Bukic scored three times for Croatia. Konstantin Kharkov and Loren Fatovic had two goals and two assists apiece for Croatia, and Marko Zuvela chipped in a goal and four assists.
Djuro Radovic and Dusan Banicevic scored three times each for Montenegro, which got eight saves from Petar Tesanovic.
The Americans started the day by handling Brazil, 16-7. The lead was 8-1 at half. Max Irving and Ryder Dodd scored four goals each, Irving adding two assists. Adrian Weinberg stopped 11 shots. Chase Dodd had a goal and four assists.
The U.S. leads Group C with six points, with a game remaining against last-place Singapore. The host country dropped a 22-10 decision to Canada, thanks to seven goals from Reuel Mark D’Souza and four from Bogdan Djerkovic.
Hungary and Spain won to set up a showdown for the Group B crown in Wednesday’s nightcap. Hungary outlasted a feisty Japan side, 23-18, behind four goals from Zsombor Vismeg. Marton Vamos had two goals and six assists, and Adam Nagy contributed three goals and two helpers. Seiya Adachi and Taiyo Watanabe scored four times each for the Japanese, who are ahead of Australia for third in the group on goal differential.
Spain kept Australia muted in a 10-7 win. The Spanish led 4-0 after one quarter and 9-2 at half despite shooting just 10-for-35 (29 percent) for the game. Roger Tahull scored twice. Alvaro Granados and Bernat Sanahuja scored two goals and an assist each, but they combined to shoot just 4-for-16.
Greece kept the pressure on Croatia and Montenegro in Group D with a 26-5 win over China, thanks to a 12-0 first-half margin. Dimitrios Nikolaidas had a second-quarter hat trick and finished 5-for-5 shooting. Nikolaos Gkillas and Efstathios Kalogeropoulos scored four times each.
Romania deluged South Africa, 24-5, though with a 47-19 edge in shots, it could’ve been worse. Vlad Georgescu and Francesco Iudean scored four goals apiece.
