World Champion, Olympic Champion, European Champion, Champions League winner, Croatian captain, and the best defender in 2017 – the one and only Andro Buslje gave shared some interesting insights leading up to the World Championships in Sout Korea.

What do you think about the teams in your group?

Australia – a very tough opponent. They have some of the world’s top players and they play very fast water polo.
Team USA – they are very similar to Australia. We haven’t watched them this year but they can be very tricky if you underestimate them.
Kazakhstan – a team that is not at our level but we take them seriously,
of course.

What goal was set from the Croatian Water Polo Federation?

None in particular, but we all know what the expectations are, going in as titleholders 🙂 It is very important to book a ticket for Tokyo 2020, of course.

Is there any room for improvement in Croatia’s game?

We trained very well and we are in excellent shape, but there is always room to adjust some details in every segment of the game.

In your opinion, who is the favorite for the gold medal?

As in every competition, there are a couple of strong teams, but this is the first major tournament with new rules applied so I don’t see any strong favorite for the title.

Do you think that some underdog could surprise at this World Championships?

Due to the new rules, surprises are possible during the group stage, but I believe that medal positions are reserved for the top nations…

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World Championship Warm Up Series

This interview is part of our Warm Up Series, where we talk to athletes about the upcoming Water Polo World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

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