Two victories for water polo women as Team SA wrap up world champs

Team SA wrapped up their Fina World Championships campaign in Budapest, Hungary with the women’s water polo team finishing in 13th place and the men in 12th position.

The women’s side claimed two important victories — 14-11 over Colombia and 8-7 over Brazil to secure their 13th place.

“The world champs was fantastic for the women,” SA coach Delaine Mentoor said.

“This was the first time in history an SA team managed to win two games at the world championships and got so close to another in terms of our Argentina game. We also improved all our scores, especially against the Netherlands.

“Overall, I’m very happy with our performance, especially considering the time we had together.”

Despite not managing to register a win in the tournament, SA men’s coach Vaughan Marlow believed the experience was invaluable for his side.

Speaking after his team’s last game against Australia, Marlow said: “Playing against a lot of experienced teams was really good, because we learnt a lot from them; we need to play more and get better.”

In the diving events, Bailey Heydra finished 34th overall in the 1m springboard and 16-year-old Zalika Methula was 42nd while Grace Brammer and Kerry-Leigh Morrison finished 13th overall in the synchronised 3m springboard.

SA’s open water swimmers also gained valuable experience, many of them competing internationally for the first time.

The 18-year-old Catherine van Rensburg finished 18th in the 5km event in 1:00:55 and 28th in the 10km in 2:06:54 while Amica de Jager was 29th in the 5km in 1:01.03 and 22nd in the 10km in 2:06:00.

“The experience itself was unbelievable. I didn't quite know what to expect with it being my first world champs, so there were a lot of nerves beforehand,” De Jager said.

“But after my first race, I felt a lot more confident, less nervous and more sure of myself. It was an incredible learning opportunity because it's so rare that you can get the chance to test yourself against the best in the world.”

In the men’s races, Ruan Breytenbach finished 29th in the 5km swim in 57:54.90 and in only his second ever 10km swim finished in 22nd place in 1:55:40. The 19-year-old Connor Buck finished 28th in the 5km in 56:39.60 and 31st in the 10km in 1:59:42.