Revaz Chomakidze, the Russian-Georgian water polo star, resigned as a head coach of the Georgian national team.
Chomakidze, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist, announced that he had left the national team by a short Facebook post two days ago and thanked players for two successful years.
He was also the head coach of Dinamo Tbilisi. Chomakidze left Dinamo’s bench a few months ago and was replaced by former captain of Georgia Zurab Rurua.
Chomakidze was Georgia’s head coach for two years. In January 2020, he guided the Georgians to 10th place at the European Championships, which is the greatest achievement in the history of water polo in this country (two years earlier, Georgia finished 13th at the European championship in Barcelona). Last season, he guided Dinamo in the club’s debut in the Champions League.
Chomakidze played for Pro Recco, Mladost Zagreb, Shturm Chekhov, etc. He retired as a player in 2009 and started to work as a coach next year. Firstly, he coached the Georgian junior national team while he took over the senior squad in 2018.
In an interview with Total Waterpolo, he explained the reasons for the decision to resign.
“I did everything I could for the development of the Georgian water polo”,Chomakidze said.
“When I came back to Georgia, we began to develop our water polo. We played in the Ukrainian Championship and were the 4th or 5th team in the league. Ten years later, Georgia is the 10th national team in Europe, while Dinamo plays in the Champions League.So, I am satisfied with what I did and with our achievements in the last few years.”
Why did you withdraw from the coaching job in Georgia and Dinamo?
“Now I want to do something else in life, and I have a specific plan. If I have time, I will be happy to work with juniors”, Chomakidze concluded.
Without any doubt, Revaz Chomakhidze has been the best player in the history of Georgian water polo. He was one of Russia’s key players in the golden age of this team in the early 2000s. Chomakidze was part of the Russian national team for more than a decade (1997 – 2007), and he clinched two medals at the Olympic Games (silver in Sidney 2000 and bronze in Athens 2004), bronze at the 2001 World Championships, etc.
He started playing water polo in Dinamo Tbilisi. Later, he was a member of famous European clubs: Pro Recco, Mladost Zagreb, Shturm Chekhov, Florentia. He won the LEN Trophy in 2008, playing for Shturm.
Chomakidze was one of the candidates for the 2020 Total Player Award. Many of the members of our Expert Jury picked him for the best center-forward of the world in the 21st century.
There is still no official information on who will replace Chomakidze in the national team. Georgia will play at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in February and will be the host of the World League Super Final in June.
