Beach water polo in Serbia is growing year after year. One of the most important competitions is the Keel Cup, which was established in 2015.
The 6th edition of the Beach Water Polo Keel Cup was held on the lake near Bela Crkva (100 km from Belgrade) early in August.
Eight teams from Bela Crkva, Belgrade, Sabac, Subotica and Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) took part in a three-day competition. After 28 matches in a round-robin tournament, the games for the final ranking were played on the last day, in front of 1.000 spectators.
Dejan Savic, Serbia head coach, also supported the tournament. Savic was a promoter of the 6th Keel Cup. He attended the last competition day.
-I am sure that Serbia has a lot of opportunities to develop beach water polo. This sport has been very popular in Italy and Montenegro since the 90s, I think that it could be very popular in Serbia too.When we talk about regular water polo, the Water Polo Federation of Serbia has a strategy on the development until the 2028 Olympic Games. I hope that we have a bright future.- Savic said.
The gold medal was won by the team “Karic brothers”, which defeated Supersport 710 (Belgrade) in the final game 10:4.
Karic Brothers, the team from Bela Crkva, managed to win the trophy in front of the home crowd. This was their third gold at the Keel Cup. They took the 1st place in 2015 when the tournament was held on the Silver Lake (Srebrno Jezero), near the Danube river, and in Belgrade 2017.
Pirati sa Lida (Belgrade), the squad which won the 2018 Keel Cup, also held in Bela Crkva, this time took the bronze medal. Pirati sa Lida defeated Select Fruit (Subotica) 16:4 in the encounter for the 3rd place.
After the medals were awarded, the tournament was closed by the fireworks.
The tournament was opened by Darko Udovicic, who was a competition director of the 2016 European Championships in Belgrade. SInce 2017, Udovicic has been working as an assistant minister in the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Serbia.
Nenad Tomic, the tournament director, said that the “Keel company”, had had the support of the local government of Bela Crkva and the local Water Polo Club Jezero.
-We have to thank our hosts from Bela Crkva and respected guests who attended the tournament- Tomic said.
Aleksandar Pesteric (Karic Brothers) was voted the best player of the tournament, Vladimir Tanovic (Pirati sa Lida) was the best goalkeeper, while Ivan Zivojinovic (Supersport) received the “Miodrag Novakovic” award for the best young player.
Final ranking: 1. Karic Brothers , 2. Supersport 710 , 3. Pirati sa Lida , 4.Select Fruit, 5.Tajsonovi Majkovi, 6. Borac Banja Luka, 7.Veterani Sabac, 8. Gagijevi Zmajevi
