In the opening match of the men's water polo tournament at the Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Kazakhstan's national team lost to the hosts Japan 11:19 (2:4, 1:5, 1:4, 7:6). This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The bill: six-time champion against five-time champion

The bill of the first men's water polo match in Nagoya was striking: Kazakhstan, six-time champion of the Asian Games, against Japan, a five-time winner and the current champion.

Kazakhstan's men's water polo squad at the Asian Games 2026:

  • 01Goalkeepers: Akzhan Adai, Temirlan Balfanbayev
  • 02Defenders: Ruslan Akhmetov, Srdjan Vuksanovic, Rustam Ukumanov, Eduard Tsoi, Alexey Shmider
  • 03Forwards: Yegor Belousov, Yulian Verdesh, Dusan Markovic, Mikhail Rudai, Nurasyl Satbergen, Murat Shakenov, Sultan Shonzhigitov

From a tight battle in Hangzhou to a rout in Nagoya

At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, Kazakhstan lost to Japan in the group stage 13:15. This time there was no tight battle. The Japanese immediately took a 3:0 lead and by the big break had pulled five goals ahead — 8:3.

The Montenegrin coach of the Kazakh team, Nemanja Knezevic, called timeouts and tried in vain to set his players on the right path. The hosts continued to increase their lead. Before the final quarter, our team was losing by a very large margin — 4:13. The Kazakhs won the last period, but reduced the gap only slightly — 11:19.

A painful defeat, but not a catastrophe

An extremely unpleasant defeat. However, frankly speaking, no catastrophe occurred. All eight participating teams advance to the quarterfinals. In the group tournaments, only the seeding numbers of the teams for the playoffs are determined.

The Asian Games men's water polo tournament has been held since 1951. Kazakh water polo players have won it six times (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014, 2018). And twice more (2006, 2022) they became bronze medalists.

Asian Games 2026: key facts

The XX Summer Asian Games officially opened on September 19 and will end on October 4. In the competitions involving athletes from 45 countries, 460 sets of medals are being awarded. Kazakhstan's national team at the Asian Games 2026 includes 558 athletes in 35 sports.

On the first day of the Games, Kazakhstan won four gold medals. The champions of the Games were cyclists Rinata Sultanova and Alexey Lutsenko, as well as karatekas Zholaman Bigabyl and Sofya Berultseva. The fifth gold was added to the team's tally by MMA fighter Yerkingali Burkutalin. The sixth — by his teammate in mixed martial arts, Kadyrbek Shynbayev. On September 23, Lutsenko became a two-time champion of the 2026 Asian Games. The eighth gold medal was won on September 24 by rowers Vladislav Yakovlev and Ivan Chernukhin in the men's coxless pairs competition.

After six days of the Games, Kazakhstan was in fourth place in the unofficial medal standings.