The club’s seasons in the ex-Yugoslavia countries have started, or the beginning is approaching. The first round of the 2021/22 Croatian League has been played.
The Serbian Championship begins next week. On the eve of the start of the new champions, the Water Polo Federation of Serbia, celebrated a jubilee – 100 years of the Serbian water polo.
2021/22 Croatian League, Day 1
KPK Korcula – Jug AO 9:22 (3:5, 4:5, 2:8, 0:4)
Jadran Split – POSK 19:3 (6:3, 5:0, 6:0,2:0)
Medvescak – Mladost 6:19 (2:5, 2:6, 1:4, 1:4)
Primorje EB – Mornar BS 9:10 (2:3, 3:4, 1:2, 3:1)
Zadar – Solaris postponed
Title-holder Mladost, which left without several excellent players during the summer, easily defeated Medvescak in the Zagreb-derby. Matijas Biljaka and Marin Dasic were the best scorers. Each scored four goals.
Jug Dubrovnik ran over KPK Korcula. Newcomer Stylianos Argyropoulos (the winner of the Olympic silver) and young Marko Zuvela led Jug’s attack with four goals each. Returnee to Jug Maro Jokovic missed the first match in the season.
Jadran Split, which was significantly reinforced this summer, showed no mercy to POSK in the Split derby. Jerko Marinic Kragic (5 goals), Konstantin Khrakov and Duje Pejkovic (four each) topped the scorers’ list.
The most interesting game was played in Rijeka. Mornar led for most of the time of the match against Primorje. The visitors had a 3-goal lead before the final quarter (9:6). Primorje narrowed the difference 48 seconds from the end (9:10), but didn’t equalize.
100th birthday of Serbian water polo
The Serbian League will start on Wednesday.
Before the start of the new season, the Serbian Water Polo Federation (VSS) organized the Gala Academy on the occasion of 100 years of water polo in Serbia.
First water polo games were played on the territory of today’s Serbia early in the 20th century. Still, the year 1921 was a crucial milestone in the development of Serbian water polo. In August 1921, the first Yugoslavian championship in water polo was held. Serbian club SSU from Sombor (today’s Polet Sombor) became the first-ever Yugoslavian champion. Because of that, the first national championship and SSU’s success are considered the beginning of the era of modern water polo in Serbia.
The national team of Yugoslavia played its first official match in 1927. Since then, Serbian water polo players have won 94 medals at major competitions as members of the national teams of Yugoslavia (1927 – 2003), Serbia and Montenegro (2003 – 2006) and Serbia (since 2006). The most valuable trophies in the treasury are five Olympic golds (1968, 1984, 1988, 2016, 2021). Three Serbian clubs (Partizan, Becej, Crvena Zvezda) have become European champions.
Serbian national teams dominated in the year of the centennial anniversary, winning gold medals at the Olympic Games, the World U20 Championships and the European U17 Championships.
The ceremony was opened by the Water Polo Federation of Serbia president Viktor Jelenic. Then, Vanja Udovicic, the Minister of Youth and Sports in the Government of Serbia, held a speech. Both won many medals playing for national teams, while Udovicic was Serbia’s captain from 2009 to 2013.
After that, Serbian water legends entered the stage: Djordje Perisic (1968 Olympic champion and six-time European champion with Partizan), Igor Milanovic (1984 and 1988 Olympic champion and one of the best players of the 20th century), Dejan Savic (Serbia’s head coach since 2013 and a record-holder with 444 games for the national team), and Filip Filipovic (2016 and 2021 Olympic champion and Serbia’s captain between 2016 and 2021).
Perisic, Milanovic, Savic, Filipovic
They spoke about the history of Serbian water polo by evoking memories of their careers. Perisic conveyed kind regards by his teammates from the 1968 Olympic team Ozren Bonacic, Roland Lopatni, and Karlo Stipanic, the three legends of the Croatian water polo.
Parts of TV series about the history of water polo in Serbia was premiered shown during the ceremony. A monograph about 100 years of Serbian water polo, written by Djordje Perisic and journalist Dejan Stevovic was presented at the end of the evening.
More news about water polo in Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro
