Defending champions and world No. 1 CRO were off to a flying start with a 25-6 trouncing of CHN on Day 2 of the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025 on Saturday (12 July). 
Also in Group D, just margins separated world No. 8 MNE and world No. 3 GRE with the former eventually stunning their rivals 10-9 in a tight contest.

After the first quarter, MNE took a surprise 5-3 lead and never looked back. While GRE remained close behind and ensured the gap never exceeded two points, they were ultimately let down by a looser defence and less clinical shooting after they converted 30% of their attempts compared to MNE’S 37%. The Montenegrans also converted all three of their extra-man goals compared to GRE converting four of six. GRE will now be hoping to recover with a win against CHN on 14 July, while MNE face defending champions CRO on the same day. 

Hosts SGP started their men’s water polo Group C campaign with a valiant effort against BRA at the OCBC Aquatic Centre. Despite trailing 9-1 at half-time, the Singaporeans never gave up. Spurred on by the home crowd, they found their footing in the second half and scored seven goals to BRA’s 10 in the last two quarters. But the gap from the first half proved too big and the Singaporeans eventually lost 19-8. 

Says Sanjiv Rajandra (SGP): “I think the team played really well today. There’s a lot to improve on for sure, and we are planning to work on those few errors that we made today for our game against Canada. Personally, I think I did okay but I think there’s a lot more for me to improve on and work on.”

“We need to work on that the next few games. These kinds of opportunities don’t come by very often; we’re not a Division One or Division Two team. So we need to use these games to minimise our errors. We have the SEA Games around the corner as well, so we need to work on that and make sure we bring back the gold for Singapore at the SEA Games.”

In Group B, world No. 12 JPN did well to keep the score close and give favourites ESP a scare. But, even in the absence of veteran Felipe PERRONE, the Spanish team proved why they are ranked second in the world with a tight defence and strategic offence helping them to a 22-16 win. 

The full results are as follows –
SRB 27-3 RSA
CAN 9-18 USA
CHN 6-25 CRO
BRA 19-8 SGP
ESP 22-16 JPN
HUN 18-6 AUS
MNE 10-9 GRER
OU 5-17 ITA

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.