Serbia lose to Italy on penalties at water polo world championship

SINGAPORE - The Serbia men's national water polo team lost 17-16 to Italy after a penalty shoot-out in Monday's Group A Round 2 match at the World Aquatic Championships in Singapore that ended 13-13 at full time.

Giacomo Cannella led the scoring for Italy with three goals from 14 attempts, and Francesco Condemi, Matteo Iocchi Gratta and Francesco Di Fulvio all scored two goals each.

Dusan Mandic stood out for Serbia with five goals, Vasilije Martinovic scored three and Djordje Lazic netted two goals.

In the second Group A match, Romania beat South Africa 24-5 earlier in the day.

Italy are now on top of the group table with five points and Serbia follow with four, while Romania and South Africa have three and zero points, respectively.

In the last round of the group stage, Serbia will take on Romania and Italy will play South Africa.

The winner of the group will secure a direct quarter-final berth, with the second- and third-placed teams to go to the quarter-final play-offs.