Rio Olympics: Australia downed by Italy 8-7

THE Australian Women’s water polo team have suffered a nail biting 8-7 loss to Italy in the dying moments of their second game at Rio.

The Italian team dominated from the beginning overnight, with its aggressive play giving it a 4-2 lead by quarter time.

East Victoria Park’s Zoe Arancini scored a valuable goal to help the Aussies fight back, which resulted in scores locked 6-6 leading into the final period.

Both sides managed one goal apiece, but the Athens gold medallists showed their strength in the last 45 seconds to take the win.

Olympic debutant Arancini said while the loss was disappointing, they had to focus on the next task.

“It was definitely not the result we were after,” she said.

“It’s a little bit of a come down after the win against Russia, we will just need to re-group.

“I believe we had the capacity to win it today – we had the extra man opportunities we just needed to put the goals away.

“We are lucky it wasn’t a knock out game but we want to come out here and win every game.”

The Aussies take on hosts Brazil tomorrow night (10.40pm WST) for the final round of the pool stage before the quarterfinals get underway on Monday.