Hungary, Spain, Netherlands and Greece march into U16 world semi-finals

The four European powers will contest the medal matches at the 2026 World Aquatics U16 Women’s Water Polo Championships after Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands and Greece all booked their places in the semi-finals in Zagreb.

Thursday’s last-four clashes will see defending champions Spain face the Netherlands, while Hungary and Greece renew their rivalry in a repeat of the 2024 final.

Hungary continued their impressive tournament with a commanding 13-9 victory over the United States. After racing into a 4-0 lead, the Hungarians never allowed the Americans back into contention despite a four-goal performance from USA captain Paige Segesman.

Mandula Mihok led the scoring with five goals, while Zsofia Kokany added four. Goalkeeper Anasztazia Bagossy also played a key role with seven saves as Hungary converted an outstanding 65% of their shots.

Spain bounced back strongly from their defeat to Greece in the group stage, defeating Australia 9-6 to remain on course to defend their world title.

Ivet Sulla scored a hat-trick as the Spaniards established a three-goal halftime advantage before resisting Australia’s third-quarter fightback. Two quick goals early in the final period sealed the result and sent Spain into another world championship semi-final.

The Netherlands produced another composed display to defeat tournament newcomers Russia 10-7. Laura Renkers starred with four goals, while captain Ghitte van Evert added three as the Dutch gradually pulled away during the second half.

The decisive factor came on the extra-player situations, where the Netherlands converted three of five opportunities while successfully defending six of Russia’s seven power plays.

Greece completed the semi-final line-up with an 11-5 victory over New Zealand. The Greeks established control from the opening whistle, racing into a 7-1 lead before comfortably seeing out the contest.

Ifigeneia Manousaki finished with three goals, while New Zealand captain Henrietta Yarrell-Stevenson also scored three in defeat. Greece will now face Hungary in a highly anticipated rematch of the 2024 gold-medal match.

Elsewhere, the classification matches continued with Italy, China, Turkiye and Serbia advancing into the 9th-12th place bracket.

Italy comfortably defeated Israel 12-5 thanks to six goals from Gaia Gattuso, while China overcame Ukraine 11-7 behind five goals from captain Zhu Yinqi. Turkiye cruised past Czechia 19-6, and Serbia edged Canada in a dramatic penalty shootout after Milica Pavic forced extra time with a buzzer-beating equaliser before Serbia prevailed 18-16.

In the 17th-24th place classification, Croatia defeated Romania 8-7, Germany edged Brazil 8-7, South Africa beat Mexico 10-6 and Peru claimed a 7-5 victory over Zimbabwe.

Results

Quarter-finals