Greece stun US to lift 'curse' and be 'ready for gold'

Defending champions the United States and Olympic gold medallists Spain were both bundled out of the women's water polo competition at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) on July 21, as Greece and Hungary reached the final.

- Melvyn Teoh

For the Greeks, who stunned world No. 3 US 14-10 in the semifinals at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, it felt like a "curse" has been lifted.

"It was amazing today, we played really good. My team is ready for the final, ready for the gold," said Greece captain Eleftheria Plevritou.

A fourth-quarter scoring spree—which saw Eleni Xenaki, Vasiliki Plevritou and Stefania Santa completing their hat-tricks—helped the world No. 5 side extend their 9-8 lead to dethrone the eight-time world champions.

US coach Adam Krikorian said: "At the end of the day, that's just an incredible Greek team. They're much better than we are right now and our inexperience and inability to handle some physicality and disorganisation offensively led to some easy goals for them."