WARRINGTON’S Hazel Musgrove and the Team GB’s women’s water polo team got their 2012 Olympic campaign off to a battling start at the Aquatics Centre in London, losing a tight match 7-6 to Russia.

The 23-year-old from Appleton was playing as part of Britain’s first ever women’s team to compete in water polo at an Olympics and almost helped her side achieve a huge upset by matching the three-time European champions until the final quarter of the match.

Musgrove’s strong defence helped GB fight back from 4-2 down at the start of the second quarter to 6-6 in the dying moments of the final quarter, only for a Russian fast break to shatter GB’s dreams of grabbing their first win against the European powerhouses.

Musgrove, playing at point, set up Chloe Wilcox for GB’s second goal of the evening after Frankie Snell had scored a penalty to open their account, but the strong Russian side fought back to 4-2 up by early in the second quarter.

A terrific hat-trick performance from Angie Winstanley-Smith and a goal from Fiona McCann helped GB fight back to level the scores entering the final eight-minute period, but they were eventually edged out by a vastly more experienced Russian side with time running out.

With only eight teams fighting it out for a medal GB are guaranteed a place in the quarter-final matches, but they will want to maintain their level of performance for their next match against Australia on Wednesday, 7.40pm start, after a tremendously encouraging start to their Olympic careers.