Defending champion Hungary handed the United States its first loss in preliminaries, beating the Americans, 7-5.
Tamas Varga scored his second goal on extra-man play to seal the match with 1 minute 27 seconds left. The Hungarians then blocked shots by Layne Beaubien and Wolf Wigo to thwart a furious American comeback attempt in the last minute.
American Chris Segesman takes a shot against Hungary's Tamas Kamas in an Olympic water polo match Thursday. The U.S. lost for the first time in the tournament, 7-5.
(Itsuo Inouye - AP)
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 | | _____ Day 7 _____
• American gymnast Carly Patterson wins the gold medal in the all-around.
• In swimming news, Michael Phelps wins his fourth gold, while Aaron Peirsol and Amanda Beard win golds of their own.
• The U.S. men's basketball team starts slowly but comes back to beat Australia, 89-79.
• The U.S. softball team remains unbeaten as it rolls to another victory, 7-0, over Greece.
• There will be no punishment for the Iranian Judo champion who was disqualified.
• The U.S. men's sabre team loses on the final touch twice, just missing a medal.
• The U.S. men's water polo team suffers its first loss.
• A Greek crew wins the first sailing gold of the Games.
_____ More From The Post _____
• Sally Jenkins: Give the USA basketball team a break.
• Michael Wilbon: Any sport with judging will have accusations, allegations and denials.
• After over a billion dollars were spent on security, the only disruptions so far are trivial.
• There is little, it seems, that does not excite Kenyan Bernard Lagat.
_____ On Our Site _____
• Athens Snippets: NBC is the Greek God of Time.
___ Thursday's Medals Results ___
Archery
• Men's individual
• Women's singles
Fencing
• Men's team sabre
Gymnastics (Artistic)
• Women's individual all-around
Judo
• Men's 100kg
• Women's 78kg
Shooting
• Men's 10-meter running target
Swimming
• Women's 200 breastroke
• Men's 200 backstroke
• Women's 100 freestyle
• Men's 200 individual medley
Weightlifting
• Women's 69kg
• Men's 77kg
_____ Multimedia _____
• Audio: Liz Clarke on gymnastics.
• Audio: Mike Ruane on Phelps.
• Audio: Paul Hamm's run to gold.
_____ Photos _____
• Day 7
• Photo galleries page
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"We were equal physically," Wigo said. "The main difference was the six-on-fives, when they really rushed us."
The Hungarians led 5-4 at halftime and Gergely Kiss scored with 17 seconds left in the third quarter for a two-goal cushion.
Jesse Smith cut the lead to 6-5 with less than five minutes to play, and Brandon Brooks made two saves in goal to keep the Americans close before the Hungarians finally closed it out.
Hungary, which has also beaten Serbia and Montenegro and Croatia, improves to 3-0 with two games left in round robin play. The Americans beat Croatia and Kazakhstan and face Russia on Saturday, with Serbia and Montenegro set for Monday.
Wigo said the U.S. squad remained a medal contender, despite a difficult bracket featuring three of the strongest water polo nations.
"Definitely. These are the best teams in the world in our bracket and we're playing right with them," Wigo said.
-- From News Services
