S. Korean women’s water polo team to debut

Published : Jul 13, 2019 - 10:59 Updated : Jul 13, 2019 - 10:59

The fledgling South Korean women’s water polo team will make its FINA World Championships debut on Sunday against two-time champion Hungary.

After earning its spot as the host nation, South Korea hastily gathered former swimmers in late May and molded them into neophyte water polo players. In the preliminary round, they will face three of the top five teams from the 2017 world championships, with Hungary (fifth) to be followed by Russia (third) and Canada (fourth).

In diving, Woo Ha-ram will pursue his first world championships medal in the 1m springboard. Woo qualified for the final by finishing third in Friday’s preliminary.

In this file photo from June 27, 2019, members of the South Korean women`s water polo team pose for photos before their practice in Suwon, 45 kilometers south of Seoul, in preparation for the FINA World Championships. (Yonhap)

Former freestyle swimmer Lim Da-youn will compete in the women’s 10km open water event in Yeosu, a city to the south of Gwangju.

The following is the list of all events scheduled for Sunday.

All times are local.

- Artistic Swimming (Yeomju Gymnasium Artistic Swimming Competition Venue) Team technical, preliminaries (11 a.m.) Duet technical, finals (7 p.m.)

- Diving (Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center) Synchronized women’s 10m platform, preliminaries (10 a.m.) Men’s 1m springboard, final (3:30 p.m.) Synchronized women’s 10m platform, final (8:45 p.m.)

- Open Water Swimming (Yeosu EXPO Ocean Park Open Water Swimming Competition Venue) Women’s 10km (8 a.m.)

- Water Polo (Nambu University Water Polo Competition Venue) Women’s preliminary, South Africa vs. Netherlands (8:30 a.m.) Women’s preliminary, New Zealand vs. United States (9:50 a.m.) Women’s preliminary, Canada vs. Russia (11:10 a.m.) Women’s preliminary, Hungary vs. South Korea (12:30 p.m.) Women’s preliminary, Cuba vs. Kazakhstan (4:30 p.m.) Women’s preliminary, Greece vs. Spain (5:50 p.m.) Women’s preliminary, Japan vs. China (7:10 p.m.) Women’s preliminary, Italy vs. Australia (8:30 p.m.) (Yonhap)