Greece goalkeeper Emmanouil Zerdevas celebrates after a win over Hungary in a semifinal round men's water polo match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)TOKYO (AP) - Greece has won its first men’s water polo medal at the Olympics. The only question now is silver or gold.
Stylianos Agryropoulos Kanakakis scored four times, Emmanouil Zerdevas made seven saves and Greece beat Hungary 9-6 on Friday in the semifinals of the Tokyo Games.
“History has been written. This is history for Greece,” Genidounias said. “The only thing that remains is to see if it’s gold letters or silver letters.”
Playing for the 16th time in the oldest team sport at the Olympics, Greece improved to 6-0-1 with its fifth straight win since a 6-6 draw against Italy during group play. It also beat Hungary 10-9 in its first game in Tokyo on July 25.
Greece’s previous best finish was fourth in 2004. Next up is the winner of the Spain-Serbia semifinal.
“I think that we cannot stop here,” Greece coach Theodoros Vlachos said. “We have to fight like crazy in the final. We want to hear our anthem at the end.”
Greece's Angelos Vlachopoulos (12) defends against Hungary's Denes Varga (10) during a semifinal round men's water polo match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)Krisztian Manhercz scored two goals for Hungary, and Viktor Nagy made eight saves. Hungary shot 22% (6 for 27) in its first loss since the opener against Greece.
Hungary is the winningest program in men’s water polo with nine golds, but it hasn’t won a medal since its run of three straight Olympic titles from 2000 to 2008. It finished fifth in London and Rio de Janeiro.
Greece's Konstantinos Genidounias touches the Olympic rings as he leaves the pool after a win over Hungary in a semifinal round men's water polo match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)“To be honest, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that Greece can beat us twice during one tournament,” Hungary captain Denes Varga said.
“I thought that we made a step forward and were able to make the difference, but they were impeccable, hands down. I wish them to win the final.”
The game was tied at 5 after Manhercz scored with 6:32 left. But Ioannis Fountoulis responded for Greece and Angelos Vlachopoulos’ power-play goal made it 7-5 with 5:07 remaining.
Dimitrios Skoumpakis helped close it out with a terrific shot from long range, making it 9-6 and kickstarting the celebration in Greece’s corner of the pool.
“I think Hungary has some legends inside its roster. We had, I think, more passion, more will to win,” Zerdevas said. “I think that games don’t have tactics, they have heart, and I think that today we were better. It was our day.”
Greece's Marios Kapotsis celebrates after a win over Hungary in a semifinal round men's water polo match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)