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Cape Town - The South African men's water polo side were eliminated from medal contention at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea on Sunday.
Having lost their opening group match 23-3 to Spain, the SA side bounced back to draw 8-8 with rivals New Zealand in their second encounter.
Playing European stars Hungary in their final clash was never going to be an easy task - and so it proved - with the Hungarians running out 23-5 winners.
The results were good enough to see SA finish third in Group C, ahead of New Zealand on goal difference (-38 v -42).
As a result, the SA side entered the knockout phase where they met Germany.
The Germans however proved far too strong for their South African opponents, winning 25-5.
The four eight-minute quarter scores read: 5-2, 6-0, 9-1 and 5-2.
Germany will now go on to face Croatia in the quarter-finals, while South Africa drop into the bracket contesting 9th-12th positions where they will face the USA on Tuesday, July 23 at 04:00 SA time.
The winner / loser of that match with face the loser / winner of the match between Montenegro and Japan.
South Africa can do no worse than match their best ever previous result at a world championship (12th in 2015).
At the last world championships in 2017, the SA men's side finished 16th - and last - in the tournament, scoring 21 goals in five matches and conceding a whopping 77.
