Serbian men’s water polo is on an all-time high with titles mounting as the seniors, 20s and 17s teams taking out top honours in the past few months. With the trophy cabinets overflowing, thoughts are firmly focused on the road ahead, leaving no time to dwell on what has been a golden summer. My thanks to Serbian journalist Dejan Stevovic, who assisted me with the quotes.
The Serbian men’s golden resurgence just keeps on coming like an advancing tidal wave.
First it was Olympic gold, then 20s world gold followed by 17s European gold — all in the space of two short months. And the surge probably won’t stop there as the European Championships and ultimately, Paris 2024, loom.
If those titles weren’t a terrific centennial celebration, then what is? In the past 100 years of water polo in the Balkan nation, there is much to celebrate with a staggering 94 medals from those Yugoslavian days, then the collaboration with Serbia & Montenegro and since 2006 as an independent nation.
Tokyo 2020 was the second successive gold medal, and the 20s team took home its third gold following victories in 2011 and 2015. The 17s team then beat Greece 10-6 for the European crown in Malta. Ironically, the 17s did what the senior team did, by beating Greece in the ultimate match.
Surely, water polo is the pride of Serbian sport, as my Serbian media friend Dejan Stevovic attests in the centennial year.
The celebrations will be long and hard and reverberate around the proud nation for some time to come.
For Serbian senior head coach Dejan Savic — the maestro conductor — the desire for a three-peat in Paris is top of the agenda. He has stated that he wishes to defend the crown, even without six of his headline act — the Pijetlovic brothers (Dusko and Branislav), Stefan Mitrovic, Milan Aleksic, Andrija Prlainovic and the incomparable Filip Filipovic — who have retired from the international scene. They had to delay their retirements for an extra year because of the Covid-19 virus.
As for Savic, his contract allows him to take the team to a possible third crown.
“It was difficult mentally, but they succeeded. As in Rio, the group matches were a preparation for the tournament deciders.
“The quarterfinals were important to us as we could play with any rival. We beat Italy, then Spain in a dramatic match, and the match with Greece was still under our control,” Savic said.
“Let's go further; we are left without six greats of world water polo, but we have been preparing for that. We played with a young team in Gwangju (2019 FINA World Championships) and a large number of players from that team were in the best line-up. For us, Fukuoka (2022 FINA World Champs) and Split (2023 European Champs) will be a preparation for Paris (in 2024). We are going there with the greatest ambitions, convinced that we will have a good team,” Savic said.
With Savic at the helm — his quiet poolside demeanour, his obvious rigid determination, his undoubted coaching skills and his lightning passages through the mixed zone after each match — Serbia is set for a continuation of solid form just when the victories are needed.
Savic is just one of the top-flight coaches who state that “the tournament starts now” when it comes to the quarterfinals.
As for the 20s team in Prague, Serbia was not the biggest favourite, although it had lost to Greece in the 2019 final. On the way to the throne, Serbia defeated strong teams from Croatia, Hungary and Italy.
Coach Uros Stevanovic said: “There are players here who can make great careers. We are preparing them according to plan and they will soon be on the wider list of candidates for the senior team.”
To top off the immaculate summer, Serbia won the European Championship in Malta. As in Tokyo, Greece was defeated in the final (10-6).
This team started at the age of 15 and could be crowned next year at the World Championships in Argentina. In Malta, the highest ranking was attained with several injured players.
The accolades flowed as well as the medals and trophies — Filipovic and Mitrovic were MVP and best goalkeeper in Tokyo; Marko Radulovic and Vladimir Misovic respectively in Prague and Viktor Urosevic was the MVP in Malta.
The year of Serbian water polo’s 100th birthday is marked by great results with great athletes and a more-than-optimistic view of the future.
Footnote: The stars will not be lost to us forever with Filipovic continuing his club career with Olimpiakos; Prlainovic with Marselj; Dusko (and Gojko) Pijetlovic with Novi Beograd and Aleksic and Mitrovic with Partizan.