22 Jul 2025

New Zealand women celebrate ‘epic’ win against water polo powerhouse Hungary

DUISBURG – New Zealand women produced one of the biggest shocks in FISU World University Games water polo history at ASC Duisburg on Tuesday with a narrow quarter-final win over superpower Hungary.

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Backed by a small army of vociferous fans, the Kiwis outscored their opponents in the first and third periods, and led 9-8 going into the final quarter, which was drawn 2-2. Overall, the victors won with only 33% possession.

“It’s epic – they are quite a powerhouse,” Georgia Ann Daly (NZL) told the FISU Games News Service.

“I don’t think anyone here or anyone at home could have ever imagined us coming out and beating them. It’s so surreal. We just keep looking at each other and thinking, ‘oh my god’.

“We went in really confident as the underdogs. We knew that we had nothing to lose, so why not bring it to them and why not come for arguably the best country in the world at water polo?

“Their history is so rich and we’re quite a new and upcoming water polo programme, so from the start we just attacked it and thought ‘let’s go, let’s get it’.

Settled nerves

Daly believes their strong start helped her team to settle any lingering nerves against Hungary, whose senior national women’s side are No.4 in the FINA world rankings.

“From the first whistle, we pushed it to the end. We never gave up and we really fought and worked for each other,” Daly, who turns 20 on Saturday, said.

“It was so epic when we scored a goal. We were celebrating together as a team, but we could also hear our fans and the crowd celebrating. It’s so nice to have that support here.

“We always had the belief that we could bring it to them, and that’s what fuelled us to get there in the end.”

The result was even more remarkable given the relative lack of preparation time for the team – not to mention the distances travelled to reach Rhine-Ruhr 2025.

“We’re a new group; we only have been together for about two-and-a-half weeks,” Daly said. “We are so proud. It just shows how hard we have been working and hustling to get here and to compete with the world’s best.

“It shows how our women’s programme is developing and how much our future players, and those of us coming through, are going to help New Zealand to the next level.”

The next level for the New Zealand team right now is a semi-final on Thursday against Germany who enjoyed a 13-11 quarter-final victory over Japan on Tuesday.

Grab your tickets for the action here.

FGNS ph/mb