Australia and the USA beat Russia and China, respectively, on Thursday in the women's group preliminaries of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Water Polo China Open held at Ying Tung Natatorium. They will compete for the gold in the final, while China will fight Russia for the bronze.

The first competition took place between Australia, the Sydney Olympic champions, and Russia, bronze medalists of the World Championships. Since both teams are strong, the competition became fierce. However, Australia was slightly superior to the team of Russia and led the first period 4-1. Australia extended the lead in the third period. The team made more shots and had higher success rate of attacks overall.

In the competition between the USA and China, team USA, winners of both the World Championships and the World League, perfectly showed their superiority and set the score 8-3.

As the two strongest teams in the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Water Polo China Open, Australia and the USA made it to the final. So far they have managed to keep their lead positions, and to some extent, we may take the final of the Water Polo China Open on March 22 as a rehearsal of the women's water polo final of the Beijing Olympic Games.

(BOCOG March 20, 2008)