DUNFERMLINE Water Polo Club star Niamh Moloney has helped Great Britain's senior women achieve their best finish on the global stage in more than a decade.

The 21-year-old and her team-mates concluded their campaign in the water polo tournament at the World Aquatics Championships yesterday (Wednesday) with a win over Kazakhstan, which secured an 11th-place finish.

That means they have bettered the 13th place achieved by the last GB senior women's team that competed at that level 11 years ago.

Niamh travelled to Doha, Qatar, for the competition earlier this month having helped GB finish seventh at last month's European Water Polo Championships, which secured their ticket for the world finals.

After beginning their campaign with a 29-19 loss to 2023 World Championship bronze medallists Italy, and a 20-5 defeat to Canada, who are ever-presents at this competition, they produced a fine performance to defeat South Africa 15-4 in their final group match.

That guaranteed a minimum top 12 finish for Niamh and her team-mates, who went on to face Australia in the play-off round on Saturday, which they lost 20-8.

A match against China, who are regulars at the Olympic Games, and will be at Paris 2024 after winning the Asian Games last year, in the 9th-12th place classification semi-finals came next, and ended in a 15-10 loss after another spirited showing.

That left them to face Kazakhstan to determine 11th and 12th places, and an 8-6 win secured the former for GB, whose successes in that match, and against South Africa, were their first at a World Championships.