Reigning Olympic champion Hungary Tuesday smashed Greece in the men's water polo, converting an opening lead into a 17-6 victory.
Hungary broke the Greek gate seven times in the first quarter as Greece only managed to have two goals. The Greek launched more attacks in the rest of the game but were unable produce enough effective shots.
"We made the game easy because of our start. Today it was a very unusual game between the two teams. They (Greece) definitely lost confidence after our quick start," Hungary's head coach Denes Kemeny said after the competition.
Greek captain Georgios Afroudakis admitted that the team was not in a good form.
"In the beginning we didn't swim well and we didn't follow the play of one of the best teams in the world. If you don't finalize shots, then it really hurts you later on in the game psychologically," he said.
Goalkeeper Nikolaos Deligiannis was disappointed with his team's inability.
"Something is wrong. We have not been playing well all season. We are not fighting, not producing and not playing Water Polo," he said.
In the other games, Montenegro defeated Canada 12-0. Montenegro players shared the goals as they rattled through the quarters 3-0, 4-0, 4-0 and 1-0. Spain defeated Australia 9-8. The United States held off Italy 12-11. Croatia beat Serbia 11-8. Germany defeated China 6-5.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)