July 27, 2019 – The Croatia water polo team has clinched the bronze medal at the FINA World Championships! In a rematch of the final of two years ago, Croatia topped Hungary10:7 to secure yet another medal in a major competition.
The Croatia water polo team celebrated in the bronze medal match 10:7 (2-1, 2-2, 2-2, 4-2) against Hungary on Saturday. Thus, this is the seventh tournament in a row that Croatia has celebrated with a medal, achieving a new record, reports Gol.hr.
Maro Joković was brilliant with six goals for Croatia, while Luka Lončar, Lovro Miloš, Anđelo Šetka and Hrvoje Benić scored one goal. Krizstian Manhercz and Balazs Harai scored twice for Hungary, while Daniel Angyal, Gergo Zalanki and Marton Vamos each scored one.
Recall, Croatia lost to Spain in the semi-final 6:5 in a poor display on Thursday. In the. FINA World Championships this year in Gwangju, South Korea, Croatia defeated Australia, the United States, and Kazakhstan in the group stage and Germany in the quarter-final.
Croatia has thus increased their medal count to seven at the World Championships. The winning series started in Melbourne in 2007, where they won gold, followed by bronze in 2009 (Rome), 2011 (Shanghai) and 2013 (Barcelona), silver 2015 in Kazan and gold in 2017 in Budapest.
Finishing third, however, does not secure Croatia a spot in the Tokyo Olympics next year. Croatia will thus have to finish at the top of the European Championships next year in Hungary. Serbia, Spain, and Italy have already qualified for the 2020 Olympics.
Spain and Italy will meet in the final.
More soon…
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