Reigning women’s water polo world champions USA kickstarted their title defence with a 15-7 win over CHN on the first day of the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025 on Friday (11 July).

Says Wang Huan (CHN): “I feel like we performed quite well, but our performance fell off during the second half. We’re still quite a new team and we’re looking forward to facing many other teams this year.”

Says Isabel Williams (USA): “The mindset is just play together, play our best, and work really hard. We relied on each other and remembered what we practised. We don’t really worry about the pressure, you just go about the game ahead of you.”

The first day of the Women’s Preliminary Round also saw world No. 1s ESP start their campaign strong with a resounding 23-4 victory over world No. 18 RSA in their Group D opener. Says Shakira January (RSA): “It’s not every day that you get to play the Olympic champions. We’re happy with the result, focused on hitting our small goals and we’re happy with the outcome. Watch out for South Africa!”

Says Anni Espar Llaquet (ESP): “I think we had a very good performance. A very good start to the tournament. It’s really good representing Spain, I just feel really proud.”

Over in Group A, a nail-biting match saw world No. 15 NZL lead against seventh-ranked Italy for over 20 minutes. But a late charge saw the Italians battle past their opponents for a comeback 14-9 win. In the other Group A game, hosts SGP fell 34-2 to AUS.

Says Bronte Halligan (AUS): “It was a good, exciting first game, especially for the girls playing in their first world championships. Today’s win gave us a lot of confidence, and we’re looking to continue our momentum with Italy and New Zealand.”

Says Koh Xiao Li (SGP): “We really want to build on team chemistry. This is a good opportunity to face bigger powerhouses. It’s been very heartwarming to see the whole Singapore cheering for us. We’re hoping to close up the score line and take each attack one at a time.”

The final game of the day saw another thriller between Group C heavyweights GRE and HUN. World No. 5 and newly-crowned Water Polo World Cup champions GRE were on the front foot and leading by just one point at half-time. But a disciplined and patient HUN, at one rank higher, came back refreshed after the break to take the lead for the first time. They scored three goals and prevented their opponents from scoring any in the third period, taking a healthy three-goal cushion into the final period. It was a tight battle to the end with the score tied 9-9 with less than four minutes to go but centre/forward Natasa RYBANSKA produced the winning goal in the dying minutes of the game, securing the important victory for her side. 

The full results from today are as follows –
RSA 4-23 ESP
ARG 6-25 NED
USA 15-7 CHN
FRA 9-12 GBR
JPN 25-12 CRO
ITA 14-9 NZL
SGP 2-34 AUS
GRE 9-10 HUN

Photo Credit: Singapore 2025

The World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025 runs from 11th July to 22nd August 2025. More information available here

The full schedule for the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025 can be found here. Details on ticketing can be found here, and information on the extensive global coverage of the event can be found here.