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What Olympic water polo semifinal bracket looks like for women's, men’s tournaments

The men’s and women’s water polo tournaments have advanced to the semifinals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. We break down the bracket.

By David Fucillo
Team Netherlands centre forward Kitty Joustra (7) defends against Team Hungary driver Krisztina Garda (12) in a women’s water polo quarter final match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tatsumi Water Polo Centre. Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

The 2021 Tokyo Olympics water polo tournaments are rapidly approaching the medal rounds in the final week of the Summer Games. The women’s semifinals begin Thursday afternoon in Tokyo, which is super early Thursday morning in the United States. The women’s tournament wraps with bronze and gold medal matches on Saturday. The men’s semifinal begins Friday afternoon and wraps with bronze and gold medal matches on Sunday.

Team USA has advanced to the semifinals in the women’s bracket after thumping Canada 16-5 in the quarterfinals. The US will face ROC (Russia) in the first semifinal, starting at 2:30 a.m. ET Thursday morning. ROC edged out Australia 9-8 to advance. The second semifinal will feature Spain facing Hungary at 6:50 a.m. In the quarterfinals, Spain beat China 11-7 and Hungary beat Netherlands 14-11.

Team USA’s men’s team lost to Spain 12-8 in the quarterfinals and has been relegated to the loser’s bracket. The US faces Italy as the 5th-8th place matchups take place on Friday morning. The men’s semifinals will feature Greece and Hungary at 2:30 a.m. on Friday and Serbia and Spain at 6:50 a.m.

Team USA is a heavy gold medal favorite, installed at -700 at DraftKings Sportsbook coming out of the quarterfinals. Spain is +800, Hungary is +1300, and ROC is +1800.

Here is the complete semifinal schedule. All times are ET. All matches are available for live stream at NBCOlympics.com and through the NBC Sports app. For the women’s bracket, CNBC will air the ROC-USA matchup live at 2:20 a.m. and it will re-air on USA at 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Spain vs. Hungary will be live on the stream, and then available in a re-play at 10 p.m. Thursday evening on NBC Sports Network. The men’s semifinals will be streamed live and then available on NBC Sports Network at 11 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Friday.

Women’s water polo semifinal bracket

  • USA vs. ROC, 2:30 a.m.
  • Spain vs. Hungary, 6:50 a.m.

Men’s water polo semifinal bracket

  • Greece vs. Hungary, 2:30 a.m.
  • Serbia vs. Spain, 6:50 a.m.

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