Greece win Sydney warm-up tournament ahead of World Cup Final Eight

Greece claimed first place at the four-team preparation tournament in Sydney after completing the competition with victories over Australia, Hungary and Japan.

Hungary finished second, with hosts Australia third and Japan fourth. Greece, Hungary and Australia are all using the tournament as preparation for the World Cup Final Eight, which begins in Sydney next week.

The decisive match came in the second round, when Greece defeated Hungary 22-16 in a high-scoring encounter.

Greece made a dominant start and raced into a 5-0 lead before extending the advantage to seven goals at 9-2 early in the second quarter. Hungary responded strongly, cutting the deficit to two goals on two occasions, first at 11-9 in the second period and again at 12-10 during the third.

However, Greece regained control immediately after Hungary’s tenth goal, producing a decisive 4-0 run to open up a 16-10 advantage. From that point, the gap never fell below four goals as the Greeks secured the victory and put themselves in control of the tournament standings.

Stylianos Argyropoulos led Greece with four goals, while Aristides Chalyvopoulos and Zannis Alafragkis scored three each.

Gergo Zalanki was Hungary’s leading scorer with four goals, while Gergo Fekete added three.

Greece had opened the tournament with a narrow 22-20 victory over Australia before completing their campaign with another 22-16 win against Japan.

Hungary recovered from their defeat to Greece by producing an impressive final-round performance against Australia. The Hungarians led 6-3 after the opening quarter and finished strongly with seven unanswered goals in the fourth period to secure a commanding 20-11 victory.

Australia’s only win came against Japan in the second round, with the hosts recording an 18-16 success.