Events & Results
U14 Triton BoyS perform well in National Championships in Perth.
UWA’s Torpedoes have won the national under-18 water polo championships in Canberra.
The boys beat tournament favourites, the Cronulla Sharks, in a low-scoring 3-1 thriller. They are coached by Olympic bronze medallist Andrei Kovalenko, who has created a quality water polo centre at UWA.
UWA Torpedoes’ two first-quarter goals came from Nick Hughes and Andrew Ford. Nick has national league experience and trains with the senior squad. Cronulla’s only goal came in the second quarter and the sealer for UWA came from Tom Cunningham midway through the last quarter.
Josh Zekulich, who also played his first national league game this year, was outstanding in goals for UWA throughout the tournament. As a result of their great form throughout the tournament, Nick and centre forward Fraser Smith have been named in a national training squad. Josh is already in a younger squad and Fraser has subsequently been added to a men’s squad to tour Europe in July this year, where he will join Torpedoes team-mate George Ford.
Coach Kovalenko praised the winning team. “They really did a great job and worked very well as a team,” he said.“We may not have had the best team on paper, but we played smart polo as a team, so I can’t highlight any individual player.”
The win is a major boost for WA water polo ahead of the FINA world youth water polo championships in Perth in December.
The UWA Torpedoes girls’ side finished 10th in the girls’ competition with UWA star Jessica Zimmerman named in the national squad.
(Community News)