Balkan supremacy in water polo continued when Serbia retained the Fina Water Polo World League Men's Super Final crown at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai on Saturday night.
The Dejan Savic coached defending champions will now engrave their name on the trophy for the eighth time after their emphatic 10-6 victory over the 2013 runners-up and two-time winners Hungary in the summit round in front of over 500 supporters, mainly Hungarians.
Montenegro kept up the Balkan region's big reputation of producing endless numbers of world class stars when they finished in bronze position with a 12-9 victory over the Australians, after the tie-break system was pressed into service.
Hungarian coach Tabor Benedek had rated the indomitable Serbs as the side to beat in the world after his side's semis win over Montenegro on Friday night.
"We are here to play against Serbia and Montenegro to prepare for the worlds and the league final again. I rate the Serbs as the single dominant force in world water polo today,” Benedek said.
True to form the Serbians did not disappoint their fans at the complex on Saturday night and the Hungarians literally faced a power shutdown in their ranks when their opponents ran through for a 4-0 second quarter-final thrust following a close 3-2 win in the first session. In defence they (Serbs) were almost impenetrable as their first six centre back Sava Randelovic and goalie Gojko Pijetlovic marshalled the danger zones brilliantly.
Once again in-form Serb driver Filip Filipovic (3) was in his elements as he dodged and weaved around the basically stable Hungarian defence during the first quarter.
Southpaw Filipovic got great support from right handed driver Stefan Mitrovic (3) and the duo left Viktor Nagy in the Hungarian citadel confused so often especially with their u-turn throws and lobs at goal.
The end of the third outing saw the Serbs who refused to slow down the pace, cruising straight and level at 10-3.
By the time the game was almost half old the Serbs had sliced their way through the Hungarian waters for a comfortable five-goal cushion. At half time the champs led 7-2.
Hungary's Denes Andor Varga (4) drove into the Serbian lines to give the final scoreline some amount of respectability.
The battle for bronze turned out to be a fully stretched thriller as the world's third rated side Montenegro edged the fighting Australians 12-9 (8all normal time) after the tie-break of five throws each was applied.
The Aussies missed two of their penalty throws to finish fourth in the week-long tourney.
The regulation time score was 8all after the honours were even in two sessions each for the losing semi-finalists.
The Montenegrins walked off with the second and third quarters with 3-2 advantages while the Down Under men won the first and the third sessions at 2-1 each.
For Montenegro, centre back Antonia Petrovic and driver Drasko Brguljan got three goals each while for Australia, driver Aidan Roach poached into the opponents' cage thrice.
Source: WAM