Serbia reaffirmed its status of world strongest nation in the water polo arena by retaining its crown at the 15th FINA Men’s Water Polo World Cup, organised in Almaty (KAZ) on August 19-24.
Clashing with reigning World champion Hungary for the third time this year in a major tournament final, at the FINA World League last June in Dubai and European championships last month in Budapest, Serbia emerged victorious again, winning 11-9 in a penalty shootout.
In the bronze-medal match, 2012 Olympic champion Croatia upset United States of America 8-6 while Montenegro settled for seventh place, beating South Africa 13-10.
Four teams qualified from the tournament for the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan (RUS). With Serbia and Hungary already qualified from the FINA World League, the next four teams earned a berth for Kazan — Croatia, USA, Australia and Kazakhstan.
Hungary’s captain Daniel Varga was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, Serbian Stefan Zivodinovic the Best Goalkeeper while Americans Bret Bonnani and Jesse Smith were awarded Highest goal-scorer (13 goals) and Best Defender, respectively.
FINAL STANDINGS
1. Serbia
2. Hungary
3. Croatia
4. United States of America; 5. Australia; 6. Kazakhstan; 7. Montenegro; 8. South Africa.
Medallists of the FINA Men’s World Cups:
1979: 1. HUN, 2. USA, 3. YUG
1981: 1. URS, 2. YUG, 3. CUB
1983: 1. URS, 2. FRG, 3. ITA
1985: 1. FRG, 2. USA, 3. ESP
1987: 1. YUG, 2. URS, 3. FRG
1989: 1. YUG, 2. ITA, 3. HUN
1991: 1. USA, 2. YUG, 3. ESP
1993: 1. ITA, 2. HUN, 3.AUS
1995: 1. HUN, 2. ITA, 3. RUS
1997: 1. USA, 2. GRE, 3. HUN
1999: 1. HUN, 2. ITA, 3. ESP
2002: 1. RUS, 2. HUN, 3. YUG
2006: 1. SCG, 2. HUN, 3. ESP
2010: 1. SRB, 2. CRO, 3. ESP
Water Polo News / Swimming News courtesy of FINA.