Serbia's men's water polo team started the defense of their titles from the last two Olympics with a hard-fought 16:15 win against Japan.
The Serbians, Olympic champions from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, underestimated the opponent and created many problems for themselves, but the greater class of the team helped the success.
Dusan Mandic played a strong game, leading Serbia to victory with seven goals, including the winning goal at the very end. Nikola Dedović, Viktor Rašović and Nikola Jakšić each scored two goals, and Strahinja Rašović, Nemanja Viko and Radomir Drašović added one goal each.
Yusuke Inaba was Japan's top scorer with six goals, while Keigo Okawa scored three times.
The Asian team played perhaps one of the best matches in its history and was in the fight for victory until practically the last second.
Japan led at halftime with 8:7, but with a strong third period, the Serbian team was able to pull within one goal and keep the fragile lead until the end.
In another match from Group B, Spain defeated Australia with a score of 9:5.