Italians stage comeback

Yugoslavs shoot to pile more misery on the Americans

Italy finished their Group A match against Russia with a flourish as the teams drew 7-7 in the men's Olympic water polo.

The Italians were trailing 7-5 as they entered the final quarter and seemed second best throughout the match.

But Leonardo Sottani began the comeback with his opener to cut the East Europeans lead down to one with six minutes to go.

And then with over two minutes left Sottani took a pool-length pass from 'keeper Francesco Attolico to smash home the equaliser.

Both teams had a chance to win the match as Dmitri Stratan's shot slammed off the crossbar for Russia and then Italy's Francesco Postiglione had his shot blocked with 15 seconds to go - but in the end they had to be content with a draw.

The Italians, who are now joint second with Russia, now face defending Olympic champions Spain in the next preliminary game, with the Spanish having beaten Slovakia 7-6 to go top of the table.

Australia could only manage a 11-11 draw with Kazakhstan.

In Group B Hungary thrashed the Netherlands 16-8 to go joint top with Croatia and Yugoslavia who beat Greece (9-5) and the Unied States (8-5) respectively.