World Championships: Rita Keszthelyi Repeats at Tournament MVP
Hungary’s Rita Keszthelyi was named the most valuable player of the women’s water polo tournament at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.
Of the seven players on the all-tournament team voted by members of the media, only gold medalist Greece had two representatives, with Ioanna Stamatopoulou named the top goalie and Foteini Tricha among the field players.
American Emily Ausmus made it on the team, though bronze medalist Spain did not have a representative. Joining them are Japan’s Yumi Arima, Agnese Cocchiere of Italy and Morgan McDowall of New Zealand.
Keszthelyi continues an amazing run. The MVP of the 2024 tournament in Doha is on the all-tournament team for the seventh time, a run that dates back to 2013 for the 33-year-old who shows now signs of slowing.
Keszthelyi was held to 1-for-6 shooting in the final by Stamatopoulou and Greece. But for the tournament, she scored 19 goals on 32 shots to go with 13 assists for the silver medalist.
“I’m not angry. Obviously I’m sad, but I’m very proud of my team,” Keszthelyi said after Wednesday’s 12-9 loss to Greece in the final. “We did what we could today, and this was the maximum. So I think we should keep our heads high and be proud of ourselves, but also we have to stay humble and know that we have to work more to step one step forward. Obviously, we are not going to give up. We’ll keep fighting and we just want to win games.”
Stamatopoulou and Greece allowed 67 goals in seven games. She didn’t play in the group stage against Croatia, but she shined with six saves in an 8-7 win over Australia in the quarterfinals, 11 stops in a 14-10 win over the United States in the semifinals and 16 in the final victory over Hungary.
“She’s the best goalkeeper in the tournament,” Greek captain Eleftheria Plevritou said. “She deserves it.”
Tricha, aged 20, was the leading scorer for the tournament, pouring in 25 goals on 38 shots (66 percent). She added 10 assists and 13 blocks.
“This doesn’t matter at all. I really care about the gold more,” Tricha said about the top scorer honor. “The goals are an outcome of the system of the team. Everyone’s passing, when the ball comes to me, I only think about what I have to do correctly. If it’s to shoot, then I shoot. It’s an outcome of the system and it’s a team effort. My teammates are great, they can find me easily.”
Arima scored 23 goals on 52 shots. She was second in scoring in leading Japan to an eighth-place finish. She was also on the all-tournament squad at the 2023 edition in Fukuoka.
Ausmus, still just 19, scored 17 goals on 31 shots to lead the Americans to the bronze-medal match, where they fell to Spain.
Cocchiere scored 20 goals, second to teammate Chiara Ranalli and fourth in the tournament, as Italy finished seventh.
McDowall scored 19 goals for New Zealand, which finished 10th. She was also the leading scorer at the 2024 World Championships with 31 goals.
Media All-Star Team
- Ioanna Stamatopoulou, Greece (GK)
- Yumi Arima, Japan
- Emily Ausmus, USA
- Agnese Cocchiere, Italy
- Rita Keszthelyi, Hungary (MVP)
- Foteini Tricha, Greece
- Morgan McDowall, New Zealand
Final Standings
- Gold: Greece
- Silver: Hungary
- Bronze: Spain
- United States
- Netherlands
- Australia
- Italy
- Japan
- China
- New Zealand
- Great Britain
- France
- Croatia
- Argentina
- South Africa
- Singapore
