MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. The water polo team of neutral athletes from Russia suffered 13-14 defeat to France in their Division 2 quarterfinals match on Saturday at the 2026 FINA Men’s Water Polo World Cup in Malta.

The team of Russia’s neutral players earlier won all of their group stage matches, namely against Brazil (10-7), Great Britain (21-9), South Africa (31-11) and after having reached the Round of 16 it defeated Brazil again 16-10 to reach the quarterfinals.

The French squad is now set to play in the semifinals of the Division 2 against the winner of the quarterfinals match between the teams of Montenegro and Romania.

The tournament’s participants have been divided into two divisions, with Russia playing in Division 2. The top five teams from Division 1 and the top two teams from Division 2 will compete in the Super Final. Teams are awarded three points for a win in regular time, two points for a win in penalties, one point for losing in the penalty round, and zero points for losing in regular time.

Matches of the Division 1 teams are played in Greece on April 6-12 and Division 2 teams play their matches in Malta on April 7-13. The Super Final stage will be played in Australia’s Sydney in July.

This is the Russian national water polo team's first time participating in a tournament sanctioned by the world’s governing body of swimming sports, World Aquatics, since being suspended from such events in 2022.

Russian water polo players were allowed to compete internationally but under a neutral status in November. World Aquatics became the first organization to allow Russian athletes to participate in international tournaments in a neutral status in team events.

World Aquatics’ previous ban on Russia, Belarus

In March 2022, World Aquatics (FINA until December 2022) ruled to bar Russia and Belarus from FINA’s upcoming international swimming competitions.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended international sports federations in late March 2023 to allow individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports tournaments, but only under specific conditions.

Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.