The 7th edition of the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League concluded yesterday with Serbia beating the USA by 7-3 to win the Super Final tournament (June 16-22 in Genova, Italy). With this victory, Serbia has won four-straight World League titles, having triumphed in 2005, 2006, 2007 and now 2008. Exhibiting team spirit and overall strength; from defence to attack, from individual to collective skills, from strategy to tactics, Serbia showed it is on-course for the Olympics by winning this tournament. The silver-medal for USA is also a prestigious achievement, considering it represents the USA’s best-ever World League placement, and that only two other teams (besides Serbia) have won the World League: Russia in 2002 and Hungary in 2003 and 2004.
Third-place was reserved for Australia, which successfully defended its bronze-medal of 2007 by beating a disappointing Montenegro 8-7. Montenegro, a newcomer on the international scene, seemed poised to win the game when it was leading 7-5 with less than three minutes to the conclusion of the game. But its lead was dramatically overturned when Australia proceeded to score three-straight unanswered goals at the bitter end of the match. This win gives Australia its third consecutive World League bronze.
The match for the 5th–6th-place between Canada and Spain was well played and balanced, with both teams answering each other's goals. This balance was reflected by the score at half, 6-6 (3-3 both in the 1st and the 2nd periods). In the 3rd quarter the score stayed even until Canada took the lead (8-7) through an extra-man goal scored with 1:08 left in the period. In the last quarter, the young Spaniards showed excellent co-ordination and sharp shooting skills to score three times, to Canada’s one and win the game 9-10. Also, in the match for the 7th–8th place, Italy defeated Greece 11-7. After losing the first quarter 0-1, Italy triumphed by taking command of the central quarters, which they won 4-3 and 4-0 respectively. The last quarter was tied 3-3.
The final standing of the 2008 World League was as follows: 1. SERBIA, 2. USA, 3. AUSTRALIA, 4. MONTENEGRO, 5. SPAIN, 6. CANADA, 7. ITALY, 8. GREECE, 9. CHINA, 10. EGYPT.
Nineteen National Teams, the highest number ever, participated in the 2008 League, which was played in two rounds: the preliminary tournaments, where continental groups played-off in six countries (between May 23-June 8), and the Super Final in Genova, Italy. Seventeen National Teams competed in the preliminaries, the top eight of which advanced to the Super Final, where they also faced Canada and USA (from Group Americas). The 2008 League involved, for the first time, a full Group Africa composed of teams from Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Egypt. The teams of this year’s FINA Men’s Water Polo World Leagues obtain not only glory and recognition ahead of the Olympics, but a portion of a total prize money amounting to US$512’500 (including US$100’000, 70’000 and 50’000 respectively for the gold, silver and bronze medalled teams).