Britain clinch opening match victory in Singapore

Getting underway their world championships in positive fashion, Lucy Blenkinship was fastest to the ball in the opening sprint of the match to kick-off the first of four eight-minute quarters against their French opponents.

The early exchanges showed this would be a tight match-up as Great Britain – wearing the blue caps – worked Katy Cutler into position to level the score on 1-1, before a dexterous backhand finish from Toula Falvey put GB ahead for the first time. A looping shot from Harriet Dickens tucked in at the back post for the team’s third as the first quarter closed with France edging it 4-3.

Momentum began to build after the restart as Katie Brown neutralised the scoreline, before Lily Turner cannoned a shot between a handful of blockers to open her goalscoring account for the tournament.

With of a sequence of patient passing, captain Kathy Rogers capped a superb team goal by getting on the end of a ball across the goal face to tap it home, while at the other end Sophie Jackson was alert to par away an on the buzzer attempt to maintain Great Britain’s 6-4 lead into halftime.

Starting the second half with a continued dominance on the sprints, Britain settled into their play and Rogers finished off another team move before Brown notched up her hat-trick with goals either side of a timeout. Cutler’s sharp eye for goal took the scoreline to 10-5 ahead of a first penalty in the match, which Turner calmly converted.

The French side battled hard at the start of the final quarter and tried to get a foothold as the score narrowed to within three goals, but Turner was again on the mark – completing a hat-trick of her own with a super finish as Great Britain claimed a 12-9 victory.

Selected as player of the match, Katie Brown said:

“It's really great to get that first one under our belt because France was such an important game as we'd like to try and the break into the top-eight here [in Singapore]. I think getting that one was the first step along that ladder.

“I think the success [of qualifying for back-to-back world championships] has built because of the way that we've been moulding our players. We've had a lot of effort from Aquatics GB and input in towards coaching, and particularly our coach Theo [Nousios], and the effort that he's brought towards driving the play and the level of play to match up to the international standards that we see at the world championships.”

Great Britain’s next fixture see’s them take on South Africa takes at 5.10am [BST] Sunday 13th July, while they round out their Group D matches against Spain on Tuesday 15th July [6.45am BST].

Stream live free-to-air coverage of the World Aquatics Championships 2025 taking place in Singapore at www.aquaticsgb.com/live.