World League

As expected, Serbia and Montenegro comfortably won their first games at the 2010 FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final, taking place in Nis (SRB), from July 13-18. In Group A, Montenegro (winner of the 2009 edition) defeated China by 16-4, while in Group B, Serbia (world champion in 2009) had a “training” game against South Africa, triumphing by 22-0. The remaining two games of this first day included a surprising victory from Australia over Croatia (10-7) and the defeat of Spain (7-3) against USA.

Boris Zlokovic was the best scorer of this round, with his five goals contributing to the successful outcome of Montenegro. The Chinese team only gave some resistance in the first half of the game (4-3 for the Europeans), but then the 2009 winners managed a 6-0 and a 6-1 in the third and fourth periods respectively.

Quarters: 1:0, 3:3, 6:0, 6:1
MONTENEGRO: Zdravko  RADIC, Drasko BRGULJAN 1, Vjekoslav PASKOVIC 1, Damjan DANILOVIC, Nikola VUKCEVIC 3, Milan TICIC, Mladjan JANOVIC 2, Nikola  JANOVIC 2, Aleksandar IVOVIC 1, Boris ZLOKOVIC 5, Vladimir GOJKOVIC, Predrag JOKIC 1, Milos SCEPANOVIC.
Coach: Petar POROBIC

CHINA: Weiqing GE, Feihu TAN 2, Zhongxing LIANG 1, Lijun YU, Junliang GUO, Ning PAN, Yang WANG, Junmin XIE 1, Bin LI, Beming  WANG, Zhidang HAN, Nianxiung LIAND, Honghui WU.
Coach: Tianxiong CAI

Easier was the game of Serbia, who won the first quarter by 6-0 in its victory against South Africa. The locals had in Vanja Udovicic the best scorer for their team, with four goals.

Quarters: 6:0, 6:0, 4:0, 6:0
SERBIA: Slobodan SORO, Marko AVRAMOVIc, Zivko GOCIc 1, Vanja UDOVICIC 4, Boris VAPENSKI 2, Dusko PIJETLOVIC 2, Slobodan NIKIC 3, Milan ALEKSIC 2, Nikola RADJEN 3, Filip FILIPOVIC 2, Andrija PRLAINOVIC 3, Stefan MITROVIC. Gojko PJETLOVIC.
Coach: Dejan UDOVICIC

SOUTH AFRICA: Grant BELCHER, Devon CARD, Donn STEWART, Patrick MCCARTHY, Bevan MANSON, Gavin KYTE, Gareth SAMUEL, Ryan BELL, Richard DOWNES, William NAIDOO, Nicholas MOLYNEUX, Mark SPENCER, Matt KEMP.
Coach: Brad ROWE

credit: Stevan Lazarevic

More balanced was the match Australia-Croatia. Despite a 6-3 in favour of the Australians at half time, the Balkan squad recovered in the second half (4-4), but that wasn’t enough to reverse the result. Sam McGregor (three goals) was the best scorer for the winners. Croatia was the 2009 silver medallist in the World League.

Quarters: 3:1, 3:2, 2:1, 2.3
AUSTRALIA: James STANTON, Rob MAITLAND 1, Billy MILLER, Joel SWIFT, Aaron YOUNGER, Johnno COTTERILL, Nick O’HALLORAN. Sam MCGREGOR 3, Anthony MARTIN 1, Richie  CAMPBELL 2, Mitch BAIRD, Rhys HOWDEN 2, Joel DENNERLEY.
Coach: John FOX
CROATIA: Marko NIZIC, Damir BURIC 2, Miho BOSKOVIC, Niksa DOBUD 1, Maro JOKOVIC, Frano KARAC, Pavo MARKOVIC 2, Andro BUSLJE, Sandro SUKNO, Petar MUSLIM 1, Fran PASKVALIN, Paulo OBRADOVIC 1, Josip PAVIC.
Head Coach: Ratko RUDIC

credit: Stevan Lazarevic

Very solid on defence, USA managed an important win over Spain, with the Americans constantly in front of their opponents (4-2 after the first half, and 3-1 in the last two periods). Tony Azevedo confirmed once more his status of US main scorer, with three goals in this game.

Quarters: 2:0, 2:2, 0:0, 3:1
USA: Merrill MOSES, Peter VARELLAS 1, Michael SHARF, Jeff POWERS, Adam WRIGHT, Brian ALEXANDER, Shea BUKNER, Tony AZEVEDO 3, Ryan BAILEY 1, Tim HUTTEN, Jesse SMITH 2, James KRUMPHOLZ, Andy STEVENS.
Coach: Terry SCHROEDER

SPAIN: Inaki AGULIAR, Mario GARCIA, David MARTIN, Gonzalo LOPEZ, Guillermo MOLINA 1, Marc MINGUELL, Ivan GALLEGO, Albert  ESPANOL, Xavi VALLES 1, Filipe PERRONE, Blai MALLARACH 1, Xavi GARCIA, Dani LOPEZ
Coach: Rafa AGUILAR

Also collaborated to this article: Jana Todorovic (text) and Stevan Lazarevic (photos)