Water Polo: Singapore eyeing on recapturing SEA Games glory, women’s team qualified for World Cup Division 2
SINGAPORE — The Singapore men’s national water polo team failed to book a ticket for the World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup, Division 2 Qualifier to be held in Berlin in May, as they ended the 2023 Asian Water Polo Championships in fifth place, a spot behind Southeast Asian rivals Thailand.
China and Kazakhstan took top honours in the men’s and women’s category respectively in the Asian Water Polo Championships that were held from Mar 22 to Mar 27 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre at the Singapore Sports Hub. In the men’ gold medal match, China defeated Iran 11-8, while Kazakhstan sealed an 18-7 win over Thailand in the bronze medal match.
For the men’s national team captain Lee Kai Yang, the focus now turns to the SEA Games in May as Singapore will be looking to recapture their lost glory. Singapore’s 52-year reign as the water polo king ended at the 2019 SEA Games as Indonesia clinched their first-ever gold medal, and the Republic had to settle for the bronze medal.
“I think it’s very clear for everyone here in the team, we’re going to the SEA Games gunning for gold. Between Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, now everyone knows that it’s an even game, no one is the outright favourite right now so we’re here as equal competitors. We’re going out there with full confidence that we can perform to our best quality and win the gold,” said Lee.
Although the Singapore women’s national water polo team were the bottom of their group in the Asian Water Polo Championships, they will be making the trip to Germany as all four participating countries in the competition qualified for the World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup, Division 2 Qualifier.
In the women’s category, the four teams played each other twice in a round-robin format. In the final day of the competition, water polo powerhouse Kazakhstan dominated proceedings in the pools as they won 12-6 against Uzbekistan. Singapore ended the tournament with a loss as they went down 4-9 to Thailand.
But there were still some cheers left for the host on the final day as the men’s team won their fifth-placing match against Uzbekistan 12-11, with Koh Jian Ying named as player of the match. This is Singapore’s second victory over the Central Asia country as the two had met in a Group A encounter, with the hosts winning 11-10.
Singapore men’s team opened their campaign with a 1-23 defeat against the tournament’s favourites China. Their second game was a nail-biter as Thailand stunned the hosts 4-2 in a penalty-shootout victory after both teams were tied 14-14 at the final buzzer. Singapore looked favourites to notch their first win of the competition as they took a 14-12 lead into the final minute of the match. But the Thais scored two quick goals and blocked Singapore’s goal-bound shot in the last second to force a shootout.
Substitute goalkeeper Chanoknan Kaewmanee was the star in the tie-breaker as he saved two of Singapore’s penalties to send the Thai bench and their supporters in the stands into ecstasy. It was sweet revenge for Thailand as they had lost to Singapore on home soil during the Asian Championships in November. It also sets up an intriguing battle ahead of May’s SEA Games.
For Singapore coach Kan Aoyagi he saw positives in his players’ performance despite the defeat to Thailand in the penalty shoot-out.
“Thailand played well, they have a good counter-attacking team and are very fit. We lost against them in the penalties but during the game, we didn’t fall behind and they didn’t score more than us. (Even) though we lost against Thailand in penalties, (it was) a good experience for us, for the SEA Games,” said coach Aoyagi.
Singapore’s results at the 2023 Asian Water Polo Championships
Men National Team
(Group A)
Singapore 1-23 China
Singapore 14-14 Thailand (Penalty: 2-4)
Singapore 11-10 Uzbekistan
Quarter-Final | Singapore 7-10 Kazakhstan
Placing Match | Singapore 18-6 Philippines
Fifth-Sixth Placing Match |Singapore 12-11 Uzbekistan
Women’s National Team
(Group – Round Robin)
Singapore 7-12 Kazakhstan
Singapore 10-11 Uzbekistan
Singapore 6-8 Thailand
Singapore 2-13 Kazakhstan
Singapore 8-7 Uzbekistan
Singapore 4-9 Thailand
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