Stingers into Quarter Finals After Topping Group Stage

The Ord Minnett Australian Women’s Water Polo team has topped their group at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, with a dominant 15-6 win overnight against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in the final preliminary match. 

The Paris Olympic silver medalists remain undefeated in the opening stages of their 2025 World Aquatics Championships campaign with wins over Italy, New Zealand and hosts Singapore.  

Finishing top of the group automatically qualifies the Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers through to the quarter finals which will be held on Saturday 19 July. 

The team will now wait to see who they meet in the quarter finals following Thursday’s cross over stages. 

Dual Olympian and New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Bronte Halligan has stepped into the role of captain, leading her team from the front.  She said her side will carry a lot of confidence into the quarter finals after topping the group stages. 

“It’s so exciting to top our group stage here in Singapore, it was our first goal coming into the World Championships,” Halligan said. “The girls put in really good efforts, it’s very hot here in Singapore but we just stuck to our game plans and came away with three from three wins… I’m really proud of the girls. 

“It’s tough here at the World Championships… it’s not like an Olympic Games where there are 10 teams, here there are 16 teams all vying for that spot on the podium. From the top eight through anything can happen so I’m excited to get to that part of the tournament and see what we can and hopefully get to that podium spot.”  

NSWIS athlete Sienna Hearn was named Player of the Match.

The team includes multiple NSWIS scholarship holders such as Hayley Ballesty, Sienna Green, Bronte Halligan, Sienna Hearn, Dani Jackovich, Tilly Kearns, Alexie Lambert, Gen Longman, and Olivia Mitchell, as well as NSWIS staff – Senior Sports Physiotherapist Bernie Petzel and Sport Performance Analyst Joshua Dipple.

The Aussie Stingers now have a three day break while they wait to see who they’ll face off in Saturday’s quarter final. 

The Ord Minnett Australian Men’s Water Polo Team, the Aussie Sharks, continue their World Championships campaign tomorrow, Wednesday 16 July, in a must win match against Japan at 12:35pm AEST. 

The World Aquatics Championships are live and free on 9Now. 

Waterpolo Australia