Italy Barely Gains Contentious Victory

Italy moved to the top of its men’s water polo group with an argument-filled 6-5 victory over defending champion Spain.

Alessandro Calcaterra threw in a shot with 4:32 left as Italy took the lead for good in the back-and-forth contest. The Italians moved to 2-0-1 in their group, a point ahead of Spain at 2-1-0.

At halftime, Italian Coach Ratko Rudic came over the Spanish side and argued loudly with Spain’s Jordi Sans. Officials and players stepped between them as the argument continued.

Neither was ejected, although Spain’s Javier Sanchez Toril was thrown out after Italy scored early in the third period when he pounded the pool deck as he left the water.

Kazakstan 11, Australia 11--Kazakstan’s Alexandr Elke scored with 12.8 seconds to go to force a tie with Australia. Chernov’s goal left Kazakstan and Australia tied in the Group A standings at 0-1-1.

Croatia 8, Hungary 7--The Croatians (3-0-0) marked themselves as favorites after a victory over Hungary (2-1-0) that guaranteed them a quarterfinal spot.

Croatia had earned a 9-5 victory over Greece on Sunday.