The Georgian Water Polo Federation decided who will succeed Revaz Chomakhidze on the bench of the national team. Serb Dejan Stanojevic is a new head coach of Georgia.
In an interview with the Serbian daily “Dnevnik”, Stanojevic confirmed that he had signed a 3-year contract with the Georgian Federation (until 2024). The goal of the Georgians is to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris.
He will also be Dinamo Tbilisi’s coach. Dinamo plays in the Champions League as a wildcard-holder.
Stanojevic, who played water polo for Vojvodina Novi Sad, was an assistant coach in the senior national team of Serbia for years. He led the U20 Serbia team to the gold medal at the 2011 World Junior Championships. After leaving Serbia, he coached Romania (2014-18). In the past two years, he was the head coach and the trainer consultant in Kazakhstan’s national team. As a head coach, he led the Kazaks to 7th place in the 2019 World League and 14th place at the World Championships in the same year.
He will start to work with the Georgian national team on Monday. In two days, Georgia begins preparation for the Olympic Qualification Tournament, which will take place in Rotterdam in February.
Stanojevic already worked with two Dinamo Tbilisi players -Boris Vapenski and Dusan Vasic, who were members of Vojvodina when Stanojevic coached this club. Since the last year, Vapenski has been playing for the Georgian national team. Vasic also has dual Serbian-Georgian citizenship, and he will be able to play for Georgia from September.
A few days ago, Chomakhidze told Total Waterpolo that he would like to continue to work in the Georgian water polo with young players. The Federation confirmed that he will be the coach of the U15 national team.
Nemanja Knezevic coaches Kazakhstan
Dejan Stanojevic left Kazakhstan, but other Serbian water polo coach returned to the national team of this Asian country.
Nemanja Knezevic will be appointed as a head coach of the Kazakhstan national team. Knezevic coached Kazakhstan for several years before Stanojevic came. He had a lot of success. Kazakhstan won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games, guided by Knezevic. He was a coach in Partizan’s water junior team and in the junior national team of Kazakhstan before he took over the senior national team.
Kazakhstan will play at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
