US men's water polo team aim to go one better than Beijing

 LONDON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The captain on the US water polo team, Anthony Azevedo believes that his side can go one better than the silver medal that they won in Beijing four years ago and win the gold medal in London.

Beijing saw the US defeated by Hungary in the final, but Azevedo believes it will be an advantage that his side has maintained 10 players who tasted defeat in that match.

"That will definitely benefit us and it will be a key to winning. We are definitely going for the Gold medal. Our team is experienced and we have got some great players," he said.

The US has been drawn¹ against Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, Romania and host team Great Britain in the group stage. The US captain considers that there are no easy rivals and says hard work could be the key to success.

"I would say at these Olympics there is a pretty level playing field, more so than ever, but for the past year we have trained harder than ever for these Games," he commented.

Those thoughts were echoed by US coach Terry Schroeder:"I think this is going to be the most competitive Olympic water polo tournament ever," he said, highlighting the quality of the qualifying group.

"Just to reach the quarter-finals we have games against Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary, so we need to stay consistent and play at a high level for the next three weeks," he continued.

However, despite the difficulty of the task, Schroeder was also optimistic about his side' s options.

"We have a veteran team. The expectations here are to go for a medal and this time for gold!" he insisted.

Meanwhile the Australian water polo team held their first training session in London this Sunday.

Aussie coach John Fox said they had done the bulk of their hard physical work and said now all that was left to do was "fine tuning²" while player James Clark highlighted the side's recent solid performances.

"We've had a couple of good results recently, including beating world champions Italy 10-9 and drawing 7-7 with Spain. We lost 8-4 to Hungary as but a few lapses³ in concentration really cost us. But those results have given us confidence going onto the Games and we are ready to play Italy again in our opening Game on July 29th," said Clark.

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句