Great Britain senior men secure tenth place at World Cup

A young Great Britain’s senior men’s side brought the calendar year to a close with a tenth-place finish at the World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup in Istanbul.

Led by Nick Hume, the group bounced back from two defeats in their group to claim an impressive 15-9 victory over South Africa in the 9-12 place semi-final.

Great Britain had to overcome a 2-0 deficit after the opening eight minutes, showing great togetherness to put themselves into the lead for the first time late in the third.

Three British goals, including a third for Reuben Powell, put GB 8-6 infront before a Kameron Powell penalty made it 9-7 ahead of the final period.

From then on it was onwards and upwards for the British side as Lewis Gilmour and Kameron Powell added an identical pair of goals as Ben Alderson then pushed the margin to six.

That result saw Great Britain head into the ninth-place playoff match with Turkiye, where they fell to a 14-7 defeat.

It was a still a strong performance from the British side who did well keep the game close against an incredibly talented Turkish team – that only lost by a goal to the eventual champions Netherlands in the group stage.

The hosts came out the blocks quickly, taking the first period by four goals to one before Great Britain responded well in the second and third.

They kept Turkiye at bay, staying strong at the back to tie the second quarter at 1-1 and go into the half time interval down by just three.

Captain Kameron Powell grabbed one of the goals of the tournament near the right post in the third. He was smothered by two defenders underwater but managed to pop the ball up with one hand and score with the other – much to the delight of coach Hume. He added to a Jordan Elliot strike earlier on in that period to keep GB within touching distance as they entered the final quarter.

Unfortunately, Turkiye had too much in the tank in the closing stages, scoring three consecutive goals late on to extend the margin to seven to give them a 14-7 win.

That saw Great Britain finish the competition in tenth place following early defeats to eventual bronze medallists China (19-10) and Portugal (18-10) on the opening day.

The performances in Istanbul were a step forward from England’s tenth place at the EU Nation’s Cup last month and gave several younger players the opportunity to compete at a senior world level for the first time.

You can catch up on all the results and scorers at the World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup here and each of the matches are also available to watch back on Eurovision Sport.