Gergő Zalánki scored four goals for Hungary today ©Getty Images

The 2022 Men's European Water Polo Championship began with defending champions Hungary registering a strong start.

Gergő Zalánki scored four goals as the Hungarians cruised to a 23-7 win over Slovenia in a Group D fixture at the Spaladium Arena in Split.

In the other Group D match, Serbia dominated Israel with an 18-3 win as Radomir Drašović and Marko Radulović bagged four goals each for the winning side.

In Group A, Italy and Montenegro were the victors over Slovakia and Georgia respectively.

The Italians scored 21 goals against Slovakia’s 9 with Edoardo Di Somma stealing the show with five goals for the Italians.

Marco Jelaca's five goals for Slovakia were in vain as Montenegro triumphed 14-11.

In Group B, Greece played out a 12-12 draw against France.

Ugo Crousillat and Thomas Vernoux bagged three goals each for France while Dimitrios Skoumpakis, Stylianos Argyropoulous, Alexandros Papanastasiou and Dimitrios Nikolaidis all scored two each for Greece.

In the other Group B fixture Croatia beat Malta 19-5.  

Loren Fatovic was the star of the show for Croatia with five goals.

Spain and the Netherlands were on the winning side in Group C.

Alvaro Granados scored five goals as Spaniards beat the Romanians 16-9 before the Dutch won against Germany.

With three goals each, Kas te Riele and Jesse Koopman helped the Netherlands to a 13-6 win over Germany.

It was a rest day for the women’s tournament.