The “2021 Keel Cup” in beach water polo starts next weekend in Bled (Slovenia).
This year, the “Keep Cup Tour” consists of three tournaments in three countries.
According to the original calendar, Bled was supposed to host the first tournament of the series on August 28 and 29. However, the competition has been postponed for a week (to September 4 and 5) due to bad weather.
The second stop of the series is Herceg Novi. Still, that tournament, originally scheduled for September 4 and 5, is in question because of the epidemiological situation in Montenegro. The third tournament, the “Junior Keel Cup” ( for U18 players), will be held in Serbia, in Valjevo, on September 11 and 12.
The “2021 Keel Cup Tour” is dedicated to a great anniversary. The first water polo Championship of Yugoslavia was organized in Bled, a town on Lake Bled, on August 28, 1921. SSU from Sombor (today’s Polet Sombor) became the first champion of Yugoslavia (at that time, the name of the country was the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes).
It was planned that the first tournament of the “2021 Keel Cup” started on August 28, exactly 100 years after the first Yugoslavian Championship, but weather conditions caused the postponement for September 4 and 5. Since the tournament is a part of the anniversary celebration, the competition in Bled is named “Keel Kup #100”.
Boris Margeta, a long-time Slovenian international water polo referee, is a promoter of the tournament in Bled. Margeta, who is a member of the Presidency of the Water Polo Association of Slovenia, thanked the organizers for marking the important anniversary and invited teams and spectators to come to Bled.
“The field for the tournament is ready. The water of the Bled Lake is crystal clear. Slovenia has been declared the cleanest country in Europe. So we are very pleased that the Keel Cup is coming with its reputation and the concept of raising environmental awareness with water purification actions in which the tournaments are organized, the “Keel Cup Slovenia” director Srdjan Todorovic said.
The e-mail address for the teams’ entries for the tournament in Bled is srdjan.tlite@gmail.com. The registration fee is 10 euros per player for a two-day tournament.
The tournament venue in Herceg Novi is the Boka beach, but everything depends on the epidemical situation. The organizers will make the final decision regarding this tournament in the following days.
This year’s “Keep Cup Tour” ends in Serbia. The “Junior Keel Cup” will be held in Valjevo on September 11 and 12. The tournament’s promoter is Olympic champion Strahinja Rasovic, who will be one of the key players of the Serbian national team in the following years.
“I have been supporting beach water polo for years. I am familiar with the “Keel Cup” vision and goals, and I understand the importance of this “short” water polo, with four players in the team, for water polo in general. I am pleased to promote a tournament for young players, as the Junior Keel Cup is”, Strahinja Rasovic commented.
The organizers of the 2021 Keel Cup got involved in a fundraising campaign for the treatment of a three-month-old baby Vanja Malovic. This campaign will be promoted, and the funds will be raised during the tournaments.
