MONTENEGRO: WATER POLO: After winning the European championship in Spain, Montenegro's water polo team has high hopes for the Olympic Games

Record ID: 1519345

  • Title: MONTENEGRO: WATER POLO: After winning the European championship in Spain, Montenegro's water polo team has high hopes for the Olympic Games
  • Date: 18th July 2008
  • Summary: BUDVA WHERE MONTENEGRO NATIONAL TEAM PREPERS FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2008 14:02
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Montenegro
  • Country: Montenegro
  • Topics: Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA9SNB69VEKVG1SOFNFBWCT8EA3
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: For the 'Red Sharks' from Montenegro, it is all the question of balancing between old and new, the experience of the Yugoslav powerhouse and the hunger of a young team with a nation's hopes on their shoulders.
    After winning European championship in Spain beating Serbia in the finals 6-5, expectations for a country of 650,000 for triumph on Olympic Games in China are getting more realistic.
    Montenegro left its union with Serbia in May 2006, yet another state to emerge from the political and sporting power that was the old socialist federation of Yugoslavia.
    The split was bittersweet for two nations that had lived together for 90 years and for a team that won silver in the 2004 Games and a world championship gold in its three short years under the flag of the 'State Union of Serbia and Montenegro'.
    Petar Porobic, a Montenegrin who coached the union team throughout that time, had no time for sentimentality. He threw himself into setting up a new team for his motherland, almost from scratch.
    "I think that in Europe there is no other national team with such a small number of clubs in the country, such a small pool of players to pick from, and small numbers of kids training and at the same time we have such good results," coach Petar Porobic said.
    "Surely we owe a lot of where we are to the fact that the Serbia-Montenegro team was a big power, but we also organized ourselves quickly and well. The most important thing is we have a generation of players that will take us to the (2012) Olympic Games in London," he added.
    The first hurrah was winning the water polo World Cup in June 2006, two weeks after Montenegro formally declared independence.
    "Expectations are big, but it's a question of our mentality, everything has to be done now, quickly, and to be the best," Porobic added.
    His team went on to win all matches on championship in Malaga, Spain.
    They will meet them again in Beijing in August.
    With most of the Serbia-Montenegro players going to Serbia, Porobic had to experiment. His team includes club veterans who never got to play at national level for the powerful union team, and youngsters who stood out in the junior leagues. Ages range from 21 to 37.
    The experiment paid off in Spain.
    "There is very strong competition but for sure we are not going to Beijing as spectators. We'll do our best and give our nation a pleasant surprise. We are young and we will bring something nice from Olympics,"
    player Mladjan Janovic said.
    Boris Zlokovic, who was part of the golden team of the 2005 world championships, said there were great benefits about mixing youth and experience in the team.
    "We are going to Beijing to get eventually the best results, we all secretly hope to win a medal, I think that we have quality but luck is also important, so I hope we will have luck as well," Zlokovic said.
    With no other sportsmen with a realistic shot at an Olympic medal, the squad know their countrymen look to them to raise the red-and-gold flag on the podium in China's capital.
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