The most important water polo event in ex-Yugoslavia countries this weekend was the final of the Montenegrin Cup. Jadran Herceg Novi defeated Primorac Kotor in both matches and won its 10th national cup in a row.
Croatian and Serbian clubs played their league matches, but the coronavirus pandemic affected the national championships of both countries. A few games have been postponed.
2020/21 Montenegrin Cup, final
1st leg
Primorac – Jadran HN 6:12 (2:2, 1:4, 1:3, 2:3)
Primorac:Draskovic 2, Gopcevic 1, Macic 1, Molthen 1, Matkovic 1.
Jadran: Averka 4, Da. Radovic 2, Dj. Radovic 2, Brkic 2, V. Radovic 1, Vujovic 1.
2nd leg
Jadran – Primorac 8:6 (4:1, 3:1, 0:3, 1:1)
Jadran HN: Dj. Radovic 3, Da. Radovic 2, Averka 2, Vucurovic 1.
Primorac: Draskovic 1, Vuksanovic 1, Molthen 1, Perkovic 1, Matkovic 1, Stanojevic 1.
The first game of the final was played on Wednesday. Primorac hosted Jadran in Budva since the pool in Kotor has been under reconstruction in the last few years. After a balanced first quarter, Jadran, led by Russian Konstantin Averka, cruised to a 12:6 win and took a big step towards the trophy.
Today, the two clubs faced off in the return leg in the outdoor pool in Herceg Novi. The home side blew away Primorac in the first half of the game and had a great 7:2 advantage before the third period. Primorac water polo players regrouped themselves during the middle break. They started climbing back and didn’t give up, although they were eleven goals behind in the aggregate score after the second quarter. Early in the fourth, Primorac reduced the gap to one (6:7). In the middle of the final period, Danilo Radovic found the net for the final score- 8:6.
This was Jadran’s 10th Montenegrin Cup in a row and 12th in total. Jadran was the winner in the first two editions of the Montenegrin Cup (2007 and 2008). Before the independence of Montenegro, the Herceg Novi-based club won three national cups of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro.
Primorac has one Montenegrin Cup (2010) and three Yugoslavian Cups. Besides Jadran and Primorac, Budva is on the list of all winners of the Montenegrin Cup (2009 and 2011).
3rd-place matches
Cattaro – Budva 9:13 (2:2, 3:4, 2:3, 2:4)
Budva – Cattaro 11:10 (3:2, 4:2, 3:3, 1:3)
2020/21 Croatian League, Day 3
Jadran S – Jug 8:11 (2:3, 1:2, 2:3, 3:3)
Galeb – POSK 10:8 (2:2, 3:2, 2:2, 3:2)
Mornar – Medvescak 16:9 (5:1, 4:1, 2:4, 5:3)
Primorje – Zadar 1952 21:4 (6:2, 5:0, 5:1, 5:1)
Solaris – KPK Korcula postponed
The third round of the Croatian League brought the first derby in this season. Two clubs that played in the Champions League in the last two seasons, faced off in Split. Jadran hosted Jug.
Jug will take part in the Champions League in this season, as the wildcard-holder, too. Jadran will have a hard task in the qualifications.
Jug collected three points easily. The visitors earned a 3:0 lead quickly. Jadran reduced the gap by the end of the first period (2:3). Both teams tightened their defenses after the first break. There were no goals for a while. In the last three minutes of the 2nd quarter, Jug scored two goals and regained a three-goal lead (5:2). Nineteen seconds before the end of the second period, Jadran converted a man-up for 3:5. Still, the home team couldn’t go further. Early in the fourth quarter, Jug went 10:5 up and secured the win.
Two foreigners were the best scorers. Greece’s Alexandros Papanastasiou scored three goals for Jug, as well as a Russian Daniil Merkulov. Loren Fatovic added two. Rino Buric and Jerko Marinic Kragic scored two goals each for Jadran.
Mornar Split leads the race with three wins in as many games.
The match Solaris – KPK Korcula is postponed. KPK is in isolation because one of the players is infected by the coronavirus.
The next round of the Croatian League will be played on Wednesday. After that, the national team starts preparations for the international tournament (HEP Cup) in Zagreb. Besides Croatia, Montenegro and Team USA will take part in the HEP Cup. Before coming to Zagreb, the American national team will hold a joint training camp with Greece in Athens (October 19 – 23). Team USA is composed of the players who are all members of the European clubs.
1.Mornar 3 – 9
2. Jug 2 – 6
3. Primorje 2 – 6
4.Mladost 2 – 6
5. Jadran 3 – 6
6. Solaris 2 – 3
7.KPK Korcula 2 – 3
8. Galeb 3 – 3
9.Medvescak 3 – 0
10.POSK 3 – 0
11. Zadar 1952 3 – 0
2020/21 Serbian League, Day 4
Novi Beograd – Vojvodina 14:6 (5:1, 1:2, 4:0, 4:3)
Banjica – Zemun 10:13 (4:3, 2:4, 3:2, 1:4)
Stari Grad – Radnički 8:20 (1:5, 2:6, 3:4, 2:5)
Partizan – Sabac postponed
Nais – Crvena Zvezda postponed
Favorites Novi Beograd and Radnicki beat their respective rivals convincingly. Novi Beograd defeated Vojvodina 14:6. Former Trieste player Drasko Gogov was the top scorer with 5 goals. Radnicki downed Stari grad 20:8. Nemanja Stanojevic found the net five times.
Two games of the Serbian League have been postponed, Nais – Crvena Zvezda and Sabac – Partizan.
Nais and Partizan asked for the postponement because several players of both clubs have tested positive. Last week, Partizan didn’t play against Zemun due to the coronavirus cases.
The 5th round is scheduled for October 31. The national team players who are members of the Serbian clubs will gather at the four-day preparations in Belgrade next week.
1.Novi Beograd 4 – 10
2. Radnicki 4 – 9
3. Crvena Zvezda 3 – 7
4. Sabac 3 – 6
5. Nais 3 – 6
6. Zemun 3 – 6
7.Partizan 2 – 3
8.Vojvodina 4 – 3
9. Stari Grad 4 – 0
10. Banjica 4 – 0
