Serbia clinched the junior's crown in Prague (CZE) tonight as the squad defeated Italy 10-8 in the gold match of the 21st edition of the FINA World Men’s Junior Water Polo Championships, which took place over nine days from August 28-September 5.
Serbia and Italy battled it out tonight in the first two quarters (3-3, 1-1) but Serbia ended up upsetting the Italians in the third and final quarters (3-2, 3-2) to finally bag the Junior title, adding to their tally a seventh consecutive medal stretching back to 2009, including golds in 2011 and 2015.
Italy, who won its last gold medal in 2013 and claimed bronze in 2019, takes a well-deserved silver medal home.
Montenegro clinched the bronze medal at stake today, beating the Hungarians 12-11 after penalty shootout (2-1, 2-2, 1-3, 3-2), a significant improvement for the Balkan squad since its sixth position in 2019.
The Greeks, winners of the 2019 Junior World Championships, rank eighth after losing 9-11 to Hungary in the Quarter Final on Friday.
Detailed results available on FINA website here & daily recaps are available in the news section here.
Final ranking in Prague
- Serbia; 2. Italy; 3. Montenegro; 4. Hungary; 5. Croatia; 6. Spain; 7. USA; 8. Greece; 9. Germany; 10 Brazil; 11. Russia; 12. South Africa; 13. Argentina; 14. Kazakhstan; 15. Slovakia; 16. Egypt; 17. Czech Republic; 18. Uzbekistan