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SA women's water polo side thumped by Japan, end 14th

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Waterpolo (waterpolo.ca)
Waterpolo (waterpolo.ca)

Cape Town - The South African women's water polo side have finished 14th at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

Playing Japan in the match to determine the 13th/14th-place finishers, South African were sounded thrashed 21-2.

The eight-minute quarters read 4-0, 4-1, 6-1 and 7-0.

SA found themselves in the match after group defeats to the Netherlands (33-0), New Zealand (17-4) and the USA (26-1).

Those losses saw SA play hosts South Korea in the 'semi-finals' of the 13th-16th bracket.

South Korea, who have endured a torrid time in the tournament, including a record 64-0 drubbing at the hands of Hungary, were no match for SA, losing 26-3.

The overall 14th-place result is SA's best ever finish at a world championship having ended no better than 15th in their previous five appearances.

At the last world championships in 2017, the SA women's side finished 16th - and last - in the tournament, scoring 20 goals in five matches and conceding 65.

In this year's championship the SA women's side scored 33 goals and conceded exactly 100 in their five matches.

The SA women's team was thrown into turmoil in the weeks leading up to the tournament when coach Seri Harris was axed from her role.

Unbelievably, Harris, who was coaching voluntarily, only found out about her dismissal when the squad was announced - and her name wasn't read out.

Meanwhile, the SA men's water polo side will co-incidentally also face Japan in their 'semi-final' of the 9th-12th-place bracket on Tuesday, July 23 at 04:00 SA time.

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