Exciting battles can be expected in the men’s water polo quarter-finals at the World Aquatics Championships — Singapore 2025 after the final day of crossovers on Friday (18 July).

SRB overcame a stubborn JPN team and will face ITA in the last eight on 20 July. Says Petar JAKSIC (SRB), Player of the Match: “It’s a great feeling of course to advance to the quarter-finals, but there are three more matches so we are focusing right now on that and there’s no time to rest. I’m not focusing on my own performance, I’m more happy with the team performance, the way we played – defence firstly, then offence so I’ll say it’s a team effort. Our defence was on point and we did exactly what we were told. But there’s always something to improve right? Offence can be better, of course, our man-up and we’ll focus on that.”

World No. 4 HUN were kept on their toes by world No. 14 ROU whose relentless attacks surprised the favourites. With four minutes to go, they eventually brought on their usual goalkeeper and world championships debutant Kristof CSOMA, who made several big saves in the final moments to seal the victory.

GRE and MNE then recorded easy wins over BRA and CAN respectively to secure the final two quarter-final berths.

In the classification matches, hosts SGP fell 21-8 to CHN and will play RSA for 15th after the Africans lost 27-4 to AUS. Says Shaunn LOK (SGP) on the match: “Today’s team result is an improvement from the Asian championships (where they lost 24-8), but we still have a lot to prove and this team is more capable than what today’s scoreline shows. We have one more game left against South Africa and we will try to show our full potential, but I’m sure that this young team has a lot left to show.”

The full results from are as follows –
RSA 4-27 AUS
SGP 8-21 CHN
SRB 21-14 JPN
ROU 11-15 HUN
BRA 5-17 GRE
CAN 10-22 MNE

The quarter-final line-ups are – 
ITA v GRE
ESP v MNE
USA v SRB
CRO v HUN

Photo Credit: World Aquatics

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.