The Aussie Stingers finished off their World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Finals campaign with a fairytale victory over Russia at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

The Aussie Stingers dominated from the outset, setting up a 3-1 lead early in the first quarter that extended to 6-4 at half time. In the third quarter, three goals for each side saw the scores locked at 9-5 with one quarter to go, before three more Aussie goals in the last quarter sealed the 12-9 win. 

Olympic silver medalist Alice Williams was instrumental for the Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers, scoring four goals, the leading scorer in today’s final.

“This has been such an amazing experience for me to have. This has been my first international tournament at home in my career, which has been 10 years with the Stingers,” Williams said.

“This team has so much potential and so much to give. I think this being the first bronze medal game that we’ve played in (as a team), and only the second final, the other being Paris…it’s such an incredible experience for us to have going forward,” she said.

Stingers captain Bronte Halligan said after a tough semi final loss, she was proud of how the team bounced back to win bronze.

“It’s never easy to come off a loss and play again, and the girls did a really, really good job of that. We stayed together the whole time and look what we did,” Halligan, a New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship holder said. “Any game on home soil is unreal. But then to win a medal, at a world event, on home soil is just phenomenal. 

“The crowd was epic, they got us through the game, we stayed in it, we got the result and I couldn’t be prouder of the girls. 

Coach Bec Rippon said she’s proud of how her team rose to the occasion.

“We really played like ourselves today – it was just so nice to come out here and finish with a really good result in front of an amazing home crowd,” Rippon said. “We don’t get many opportunities to play in these big moments, and for this team the semi final the other day was only the second ever semi final that we’ve played in. 

“So to have opportunities like this, under pressure, with a crowd, you can’t buy that kind of experience so we’re really grateful for that experience and happy to step up in it as well,” she said.

It unfortunately wasn’t the Aussie Sharks day, the team  fighting hard against Italy but ended up falling short, with a final score of 10-16.

Aussie Sharks captain Nathan Power said although a disappointing result, the team can hold their heads high knowing that for the majority, it was their first experience playing for an international medal.

“Unfortunately today definitely wasn’t the result we wanted but if we take a step back and look at the journey that this team is on, and what we’re hoping to achieve…at the LA Olympics,” Power said. “What we’ve been able to do this week has really laid a good platform to launch us through to 2027 World Champs in Budapest and obviously LA.

“One thing this group needed was to get more experience in these sudden death type games. It was obviously incredible how we performed against Spain, and yesterday with Hungary and now a new test for us was playing for a medal, which this group hasn’t done for the last few years. 

“So there certainly is a bit for us to learn in how to approach it, but spirits are still sky high and can’t wait to see what we can do across the next two year period.”

Coach Tim Hamill said a fourth place finish will hurt, but in time he’ll be able to reflect on the week that was in Sydney.

“Certainly pleased but not celebrating fourth place at this particular moment. To get so close in the semi final… it will still take some time to look forward from. But proud of how we played this week,” Hamill said.

“We showed in Paris some fight, some spark and some character and we’ve been missing a little bit of that since. But I think this week has shown that it’s back and really excited to (see) where we can take this program moving forward,” he said.

Both teams have now secured a start at the 2027 World Aquatics World Championships that will be held in Budapest. 

Water Polo Australia

Tags Bec RipponBronte HalliganTim Hamill
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