Israel's under-16 girls' water polo team suffered its second defeat of the World Aquatics Women's U16 Championships on Tuesday, going down 10-4 to the Netherlands at the Mladost swimming complex in Zagreb, Croatia.
The young Israelis were competitive early on, trailing just 2-1 after the first period, but a strong Dutch second quarter opened the gap to 6-2 by half-time and the Netherlands controlled the rest of the game from there, according to ONE.
Ori Grodman scored twice for Israel, with Yahli Rokach and Shani Yaakobovich adding a goal apiece in a losing effort against one of the traditional powers of women's water polo.
The result is Israel's second loss of the tournament, which means the team now moves into the classification round to play for 9th through 16th place rather than continuing to compete for a medal.
Head coach Idan Kaftori struck a defiant tone afterwards, telling ONE that "the players deserve great credit for a very fighting performance," while adding that "now we have to pick ourselves up and win tomorrow."
Israel had opened the championship in fine form on Saturday, beating South Africa 12-7, with Grodman and Rokach both scoring three goals in that match and Rokach named player of the game.
Zagreb is hosting both the men's and women's U16 World Championships this summer at the Mladost complex, with 60 national teams taking part across the two events between 25 and 31 July.
This is the third edition of the women's tournament since it was launched in 2022, following stagings in Greece and Malta, and the Netherlands - who beat Germany on the opening day - remain among the field's strongest sides.
Israel's placement matches later in the week will determine the team's final position at just its third appearance on this global stage.
