WPA Country and Masters Day 1

More than 300 competitors arrived at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre today to begin day one of the WPA Country & Masters Championships. A string of great games saw the competition as hot as the weather as Australia’s brightest country and master talent dominated in the pool.

GAME IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

Australian Men's Country Championships – QLD Maroon vs. Victoria

It was obvious from the beginning that this game would be one to watch.

While Victoria saw themselves down at the quarter break, an incredible display of goalkeeping by Victoria’s Pacey Dunston in the first quarter repelled QLD’s efforts and kept Victoria in the hunt.

After equalising late in the second quarter, both teams were neck and neck until Amir Homayfar scored a brilliant bounce bar-in late in the third quarter to put Victoria in the lead. Luke Ingwersen, however, recovered quickly and evened up the scores with a buzzer beater going into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was painted maroon as QLD recorded a clean sheet and scoring four goals of their own.

QLD Maroon player, Louis Brunner, said the win gave the team a lot of confidence going into the rest of the tournament.

“We started slow, but I think our fitness and drive to win allowed us to pull away in the end. It gives us more confidence, especially as a new team, for our upcoming games,” Brunner said.

“We are so excited to be here and have the opportunity to play teams from all over the country, and especially looking forward to playing NSW and Tasmania.”

For full results, head to www.waterpoloaustralia.com/games.