WP, KZN in quarter-finals

THE South African Schools Water Polo tournament is developing into a struggle between Western Province and KZN with almost all their respective sides across all age groups likely to feature in the quarter-finals today.

The tournament is taking place at eight venues across Durban in five age groups U13 to U19. With just a couple of late results from last night’s evening session and a few U19 games this morning, it was clear WP and KZN were the dominant forces, with Central Gauteng not far off the pace.

In the under-19 boys division, the Western Province A, Central Gauteng A and KZN B teams are locked in a tight struggle for the top three spots in Pool B, with the deciding matches being played this morning. The KZN A and WP B sides met to decide the top two places in Pool A late last night. With no quarter-finals in the U19 boys event (top two go straight to the semis this afternoon) the Pool B battle is crucial. For the other tournaments, today will see the quarter-finals and semis, with the finals at noon tomorrow. The girls under-19 pool stage was also due to be finalised late last night with Central Gauteng and WP A almost certain to top the two groups, while KZN and Zimbabwe were up for the runners-up spots. These four are favourites for the semis.

In the younger age groups, it was more of the same with all the groups’ honours split between Province, Gauteng and KZN A teams and are favoured to contest the semis with one of their respective B teams. – Tim Whitfield