Jug players defeat young Mladost players

In Zadar, the Croatian Junior Water Polo Championship started with the matches of the 1st round in the groups. From Thursday evening to Sunday, from January 2nd to January 5th, the top eight junior teams in the country are competing for the title of the best in their age group, as well as for the first trophy in Croatian water polo in this year, 2025.

In group A, two convincing victories are recorded. In the match between Split teams, Mornar was twice as good as their colleagues from POŠK 1937. All three quarters went to the side of the young sailors, especially the second quarter, which coach Zvonimir Ivanka's team won 4-1.

But in the second match, the winner was also twice as good as their opponent, but in a match with many more goals, resulting in a much larger difference. Rijeka's Primorje EB did not give the tournament host many chances. After the first quarter, the score was already 7-2 for the team from Rijeka, with the most effective player being Len Dujmić, scoring 7 goals.

In group B, Jadran easily defeated Solaris in a match where the lead for the people from Split never dropped below 3 points. That's how it started (3-0 for Jadran), with Solaris reducing the lead at the beginning of the second quarter (3-2, the only minimal lead), but by the middle of the same quarter, Jadran was leading 6-2.

In the second match, also the most interesting of the first day of the tournament, last year's junior runner-up - Mladost, met the excellent challenger from Dubrovnik - Jug Adriatic Insurance, with several players who have already made their debut for the senior team of the club, such as Kulaš, Jerković, Brajović.
The Jug players won, proving their quality with a score of 5-1 after one and a half quarters. Throughout the game, the team from Dubrovnik was leading, with the lead reaching +5 (10-5 and 11-6) for the Jug team at the beginning of the final quarter. The Mladost players only managed to slightly reduce the defeat by the end.