28/12/2009
By Luke Quinlivan

Fremantle have secured a place in the final after beating Vasas, Hungary 10-9 at Bicton Pool here tonight.

Fremantle came out all guns firing in the opening quarter taking a 4-0 lead. Hungarian import, Daniel Varga, didn’t have any problems helping Fremantle demolish his club of origin, scoring four goals in style.
Younger brother, Denes Varga, and centre forward, Gabor Kis, got the ball rolling for Vasas. Kis earnt three penalties and Varga scored three goals. The Mariners were still able to keep a comfortable four goal lead until three quarter-time.

The final quarter was the ultimate test for Fremantle. Vasas’, Norbert Hosnyanszky, scored an incredible four goals in the final stages of the game, bringing Vasas within a goal of the hosts.
An extra man goal by Aaron Younger in the final two minutes extended Fremantle’s lead back to two goals. Vasas responded with a last minute goal by Varga, brining the Hungarians back within reach.
In the dying seconds of the game Vasas had one final chance to get even, but with eleven seconds left on the clock a turnover was called against Vasas, denying them the opportunity to equalise the final result. 

Fremantle: 10

James Stanton (GK), Mike Bourne, Tim Cleland, Nick O’Halloran [1], John Neesham, Jamie Beadsworth (c) [2], Grant Richardson [1], Aaron Younger [1], Joel Swift, James Fannon, Daniel Varga [4], Daniel Lawrence [1], Perry Short, Bill Christensen (GK).
Vasas, Hungary: 9
Victor NAGY (GK), Adam DECKER, Bence PHILIP,  Norbert HOSNYANSZKY [4], Victor VOROS, Robert KOVACS [1], Krisztian LETAY [1], Denes VARGA [3], Gabor KIS, Balint TAKACS, David HONA, Gyorgy JONAS (GK).

In the first game, China came out on top with a comfortable five goal win, 13-8, over Japan to put a foot in the bronze medal match.

China: 13
WU Honghui (GK), LIANG Zhongxing [4], TAN Feihu [2], GUO Junliang [2], XIE Junmin [2], WANG Yang, LI Bin [2], PAN Ning, LI Li, ZHANG Chufeng [1], DONG Tianyi, LI Bin, JIANG Bin

Japan: 8
NAOKI Shimizu (GK), SHOTA Hazui (c) [1], KAN Irei [1], MITSUAKI Shiga [1], DAICHI Esaki, KEIGO Okawa, KOJI Takei, JUN Takeda [3], MASAHITO Hiroe, RYUMA Hatayama, AKIRA Yanase [2].  

Photography by Paul Entwistle