In Group A, Montenegro (winner of the 2009 edition) defeated China 16-4, while in Group B, Serbia had what amounted to a “training” game against South Africa, triumphing them 22-0.

The other two games on the first day of the competition that ends on Sunday, included a surprising victory from Australia over Croatia (10-7) and the defeat of Spain (7-3) against USA.

Boris Zlokovic was the best scorer of this round, with his five goals contributing to the successful outcome of Montenegro. The Chinese team only gave some resistance in the first half of the game (4-3 for the Europeans), but then the 2009 winners managed a 6-0 and a 6-1 in the third and fourth periods respectively.

The powerful Serbians won the four quarters convincingly, 6-0 6-0 4-0 and 6-0. Leading scorer was Vanja Udovicic with four goals.

The Balkan countries are once again odds-on favorites to clinch the title after their clean sweep of the medals in 2009.

The eight teams are split into two groups of four who will play each other on a round robin basis from 13-15 July. South Africa find themselves in Group B with Australia, Croatia (2009 silver medallists) and Serbia who won bronze in 2009. Group A consists of USA, Montenegro, China and Spain. Montenegro won the title in 2009 whilst Spain were 2009 World Championship silver medallists.

The battle for the medals is expected to be fought out once again by Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia, but the Americans cannot be written off either after winning the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games. The prize at stake: berths at the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China.

The South African team is vastly different to the one that went to the tournament in 2009. Only four players of that team are in the 2010 team and they will be players upon whom the management team will rely on. Bevan Manson, the captain, will have a big responsibility on his shoulders as the team will look to him not only for guidance but also inspiration. The other two remaining team members from 2009 are Grant Belcher, Don Stewart and Ryan Bell.

South Africa’s first match opposition, Serbia have quite a formidable track record. As part of the former Serbia and Montenegro, the team finished second in 2004, won the tournament in 2003, 2005 and 2006 and then went on to win again in 2007 and 2008. Considering that the FINA Men’s World League Super Final has only been going since 2002, this is indeed an impressive record.

South Africa play Australia on Wednesday 14 July, and Croatia on Thursday 15 July. The play-offs to see who will be in the semi-finals will take place on Friday 16 July. The semi-final is on Saturday 17 July, and the finals on Sunday 18 July, including the matches to determine the minor placings.

The full South African team is: Grant Belcher, Matt Kemp, Bevan Manson, Don Stewart, Mark Spencer, Patrick McCarthy, Richard Downes, William Naidoo, Devon Card, Nicholas Molyneux, Ryan Bell, Gavin Kyte, Gareth Samuels. Coach: Brad Rowe, Assistant coach: Ryan Weideman, Official: Guy Pinker

Western Province B made the final cut in a true nail-biter match where they won 6-5 against Border A, while the Western Province A team saw Central Gauteng out with an 8-5 victory. The two teams will face each other in the ladies final Sunday at the Kings Park Aquatics Centre.

Defending champions, CGA OJ Eagles, will be battling for the men’s title again as they face a strong WesternProvince team in what promises to be a highly entertaining final.

Western Province came out top of the log following a 12-1 win over Border. On the same points but with a lower goal difference was OJ Eagles, who completed their final group match on the tournament with a 12-2 victory over the Central Gauteng A team.

“Western Province are always a tough side to beat and we are ready for the challenge, we are well prepared for the final tomorrow and look forward to facing a great opponent,” said Eagles’ coach Vladimir Trninc.

In the Men’s Section B, Western Province B continued their unbeaten streak to make the B final, with KZN B joining them as they finished second on the log scoring an impressive 17-6 win over Central Gauteng B.

After topping the tables in three of the four pools, the end of day two saw no change to those standings, although Western Province had a shock defeat in their second match of the day in men’s Section A.

The much awaited match up between defending champions CGA OJ Eagles and WP was a tense affair which the coastal team eventually won 10-8. After that result few would have bet against them having a clean sweep of victories, but there is always one team who upsets the apple cart.

In an even closer match, the last of the day in Section A, WP were defeated 6-5 by CGA Old Edwardians. That result has opened up Section A as only the winner and runner-up of both sections will contest for the two finals. Currently WP, CGA OJ Eagles and CGA Old Eds are all sitting on six points after each winning three out of four matches, WP topping the log with best goal difference.

WP play Border, OJ Eagles take on KZN who have won two of their four matches and Old Eds are up against bottom of the log CG A.

In Pool B, Western Province B are undefeated as are the team from the Free State. Border are currently sitting in third, but they have a game in hand and have won two and lost two, which could see KZN B slip past them but it is likely that the top two will stay there.

The women’s matches are a bit different, as their semi-finals take place on Saturday. Once again the teams from the WP are in contention. WP B take on Border A in the first semi-final whilst WP A are up against Central Gauteng A. So far WP A are undefeated (four wins from four matches).

Central Gauteng A top Pool A, but suffered a defeat on their way to the top. The other semi final will be contested between the two runner-up teams.

Saturday sees the first day of the Telkom SA Nationals Open Water Championships as the 10km race was scheduled at 9am and the 3km race follows at noon. Both events will take place at Midmar Dam.

Only it wasn’t the defending champions, CGA OJ Eagles who ended top of the log in Pool A, but the Western Province team.

CGA OJ Eagles went into the championships as favorites to yet again defend their title, but soon realised that the Western Province contingent meant serious business.

The Eagles opened their title defense with a 17-6 thrashing of Border and must have felt confident of ending day one on top of the log as WP could only manage a 7-1 victory over KZN. But that confidence would have been severely dented as Western Province then went on to hammer Central Gauteng A 16-1 to soar to the top of the standings.

The Eagles on the other hand had a much tougher second match against CGA Old Edwardians, beating them by only two goals; the final score 10-8 in the defending champions’ favour.

That left WP on top of Pool A at the end of day one. Both teams have maximum points after playing two matches (4), but the goal difference is telling. WP conceded only two goals and slammed home a whopping 23, whereas the Eagles may have scored more (27 goals) but have also conceded more goals (13).

In Pool B, WP B were also top the log. They are the only team to have won both their matches with thrashings of their C team (12-5) and then put 15 goals past Northern Tigers, who were only capable of responding with five.

In the women’s section, Western Province B sit on top of the log in Pool A with maximum points after winning all three matches today. They opened their account with a 25-1 drubbing of Northern Tigers, followed by a 11-2 win over their counter parts WP C and ended the day with a 13-1 thrashing of Border B.

In the ladies Pool B, Western Province A came out tops after winning their two games with Border A close second on the same points  but at the end of the day, it came down to goal difference as they conceded 22 goals to Western Province A’s 8 goals.

Much has been said about the parking area around the Kings Park Swimming Pool due to the construction going on for the 2010 FINA World Cup, but Swimming CEO, Shaun Adriaanse was quick to express their gratitude for the support of the eThekwini Municipality.

“They have gone to great lengths to accommodate the hosting of these Championships at the Kings Park Aquatics Centre as the venue is currently being upgraded as the accreditation office for the 2010 FIFA World Cup”.

The action continues Friday as the second day of water polo kicks off at 8am.

Jason Mostert’s team went down 17-10 to Slovakia in their final play-off match .

But their 16th spot finish is two places higher than at the world junior water polo showpiece held in the US two years ago.

The match against Slovakia was a scrappy encounter that included 29 major fouls, with Slovakians Kristian Polovic and Miroslav Mikloda sent from the pool in the third and fourth chukkas respectively.

The Slovakians finished the first chukka 5-3 ahead, with the second quarter played to a 2-all draw. Thereafter, the Slovakians were in control, the final chukkas outscoring the South Africans 5-2 and 5-3.

“We scored 10 goals but let in 17, which shows that our defence let us down today,” said SA national coach Pete Lavett afterwards.

“There were 21 exclusions in the match and France converted more than us,” said SA team coach Pete Lavett.

“We have been creating so many chances, its disappointing when we don’t convert them.”

For SA, Devon Card (2), William Naidoo and Oliver Swart got the goals for SA.

The South Africans had to play part of the third chukka a man short after Andrew Jones was sent off for misconduct.

SA now take on Slovakia in their next play-off fixture.The win allowed France to progress to face New Zealand in the play-off match for 13th place overall in the tournament.

Jason Mostert’s men won their first match at the championships, beating Uzbekistan 15-10.

This was the play-off match for posititions 13-19. They won the first two chukkas 4-2 and 4-1 before being held 5-5 and 2-2 in the last two chukkas.

Few teams at the Championships manage to score 10 goals and still end up losing, but such was the commitment shown by the SA side that Uzbekistan were unable to press home any form of advantage after being down by the halfway stage.

SA coach Pete Lavett was quick to get the national team back into the water for an evening training session in a bid to sharpen up on the team’s defence ahead of Friday’s play-off fixture against France.

The win was also of psychological value to the SA side, as Duncan Woods’ senior national team managed to record their one and only win at the FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy last month and it was also against the men from Uzbekistan.

The Serbians are no slouches, having finished fourth at the previous World Championships held in Long Beach, California two years ago. Thursday they won the respective chukkas 5-0 4-1 4-0 3-2.

The South African goals came from David du Plessis (2) and Devon Card, with national coach Pete Lavett having words of encouragement for his team after the final hooter.

“We played well in the second and fourth chukkas, but found the pressure provided by the opposition to be extremely strong,” said Lavett.
“With the experience gained from competing at an event of this nature, I am sure that this group of players will take their careers from strength to strength.”

The SA side now play Uzbekistan in a play-off match Thursday.

This was the SA team’s first match of the championships following the withdrawal of Mexico from their pool, and the SA side looked slightly out of sorts in losing the quarters 4-1 5-1 4-2 and 5-2.

The US side were more attack-minded, looking extremely dangerous near the two-metres area, and only great goalkeeping by Gauteng-based Carter and some offside play by the Americans which was spotted by the match officials, kept the score-line below the-20 goal mark.

Tuesday, South Africa take on Serbia in their next Group C match.