Spain reach polo semis

Manuel Estiarte will lead Spain in their semi-final

Defending Olympic champions Spain progressed to the semi-finals of the men's water polo, after beating Croatia, in a repeat of the final in Atlanta four years ago.

In front of a Royal audience, Spanish polo legend Manuel Estiarte scored twice and set up three second-half goals to inspire his country to a thrilling 9-8 victory.

Having won the match, Estiarte turned to the audience where Spain's Prince Felipe and Princess Cristina were watching and blew them kisses from the water.

Estiarte, 38, is retiring after his sixth Olympics and is the Games' all-time leading scorer with 125 goals.

In their semi-final Spain will play Russia on Saturday at the Sydney International Aquatic Center.

Unbeaten

The Russian team, unbeaten so far in the competition, triumphed over the United States 11-10 in another tense quarter-final.

Alexandre Erychov scored four goals and Sergei Garbouzov added three, leaving the US out of medal contention.

And the win means Russia are now going for their first medal since the break-up of the former Soviet Union in 1989.

Agonisingly, the Americans failed to equalise in the final minute when they had a two-on-one break, but Tony Azevedo could not hold on to the ball as Russian goalie Nikolai Maximov swam to cover up. Russia then ran out the clock for the victory.

Hosts

Yugoslavia beat Australia 7-3 to end the hosts' attempt to match the Olympic gold medal won by their women's team.

And Yugoslavia now face Hungary in the semi-finals.

The women's team were there to cheer on the men but Yugoslavia's Alexander Sapic ended their dream with three goals, to give him 16 at these Games.

Yugoslavia won Olympic gold medals in 1984 and 1988.

Controversial clash

Hungary beat Italy 8-5 in the most controversial of the quarter-finals, and which saw an Italian appeal to replay the match rejected.

Ratko Rudic protested after Italy's defeat

Italian coach Ratko Rudic appealed to world governing body Fina shortly after the match, arguing that the referees allowed the wrong Hungarian into the penalty box.

Instead of a penalty because of a foul by Peter Biros, Rudic said the Hungarians were successfully able to kill off Italy's extra-man attack.

"The rule is very clear," said Rudic, a Yugoslav who won gold with Italy in 1992.

Rejected

But a committee rejected the petition and the Fina board agreed.

To add insult to injury Fina plans to meet to determine possible fines against Rudic and several players who caused minor damage to the pooldeck.

And Rudic accused referees of conspiring against Italy. He said:"I have no proof. It seems very sophisticated. Maybe there were secret meetings."

Rudic argued with the officials and Hungarian players and when the game ended he went to the scorer's table, yelling so loudly a policeman stepped in front of him.

But the result stands and leaves Hungary with a chance of their first gold medal since 1976.