Croatia survived an action-packed final quarter to win the men’s Olympic water polo final Sunday, beating Italy 8-6.
The first three quarters were comparatively low-scoring, and left the Croatians with a 5-3 lead and high hopes of their first water polo gold medal.
Croatia scored twice more early in the fourth quarter before Italy went on a late charge with three goals of their own, but these proved to be a mere consolation.
The key to Croatia’s success was poor shooting from the Italians, who recorded 27 shots, seven more than their opponents, but only tested goalkeeper Josip Pavic with 15 of them.
Croatia’s Maro Jokovic and Italy’s Maurizio Felugo were joint top-scorers with three goals each.
For Italy, the silver is the country’s first men’s water polo medal since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where Croatia made its only previous appearance in an Olympic final, losing 7-5 to Spain.
