Primorac defeated Novi Beograd in the final of the "Bata Orlić" memorial after five games
Primorac from Kotor won the Third Memorial Tournament "Vlaho Bata Orlić", held at the pool "11.april". The Montenegrin champion beat the host, Novi Beograd 21:20 (10:10 after four quarters) in the final after five rounds.
In addition to the Serbian and Montenegrin champions, the vice-champions of Hungary and Germany, Vašas and Špandau, then Novobeogradski vukovi and Valis from Valjevo.
Špandau, coached by Vladimir Marković, defeated Vašaš, coached by Slobodan Nikić, 10:9 in the match for third place. The Novobeograd wolves took fifth place, and Valis took sixth place.
During the first two days of the tournament, the clubs played matches in groups. Novi Beograd took first place in Group B with victories over Spandau (22:14) and Valis (17:12), while Primorac was the best in Group A, in which it defeated Vašaš (15:11) and Vukove (20:7). ).
The winners of the groups went directly to the semi-finals, and the others played in a barrage, in which there was not much uncertainty. In every match, the favorite was better than the rival by eight goals. Spandau defeated Vukov (16:8), and Vasaš defeated Valis with 17:9.
As the tournament drew to a close, the games became more and more uncertain. Novi Beograd won its place in the final by defeating Vašaš (13:10) in the semi-final, while Primorac, in a match with many twists and turns, triumphed over Spandau (12:11).
Primorac had a great start in the final, leading with 3:0, and then a series of reversals followed. In the last quarter, Novi Beograd led 9:8, Kotorani turned it to 10:9, and the last goal during the 32 minutes of the game was scored by Nikola Lukić in 10:10, so the five-pointers decided. The match was decided after as many as 24 penalties. In the first series, the captain of Novobeograd Miloš Ćuk missed, but even the great reinforcement of Primorje, Dušan Marković, was not accurate. The best scorer of the tournament, the young water polo player from New Belgrade, Vasilije Martinović, missed in the 12th series, and then Stanojević brought victory to Primorac - 21:20.
Vasilije Martinović was declared the best player of the tournament, while the award for the best goalkeeper went to the Italian Francesco Masaro, one of the many reinforcements of Primorje this year.
The tournament was an opportunity for all clubs to present new teams.
However, not all clubs were complete. When it comes to New Belgrade, the Serbian champion played without goalkeeper De Mikelis and Greek ace Vlahopoulos (Skumpakis was in the team only in the final), and Živko Gocić could not even count on the junior national team members, reinforcements from Partizan, Luka Gladović and Strahinj Krstic. Among others, the Dutch center, former player of Partizan, Solon, Spandau, Bilal Gbadamasi, and the left-handed Montenegrin representative Đuro Radović made their debuts for the Novobeogradians. Nikola Kojić, the recent first-team player of Radniki and formerly of Partizan, played very well in his first matches for Spandau...
The new face in the coaching staff of Vašaš is Branislav Mitrović. The recent Serbian goalkeeper, after finishing his career in French Turkoan, returned to Hungary and Vašaš, for which he played from 2021 to 2023. Mitrović is an assistant to Slobodan Nikić in the coaching staff of the first team, and he also works with the younger categories.
Third memorial tournament "Vlaho Bata Orlić", Belgrade, September 5 - 8
Group A
Primorac – Vašaš 15:11 (2:3, 2:3, 6:0, 5:5)
Vašaš – NBG Vukovi 19:13 (3:2, 6:5, 7:4, 3:2)
Primorac – NBG Vukovi 20:7 (3:0, 7:3, 5:4, 5:0).
Group B
Novi Beograd – Spandau 22:14 (6:4, 3:5, 5:2, 8:4)
Spandau – Wallis 17:12 (5:2, 3:2, 5:3, 4:5)
Novi Beograd – Valis 17:12 (4:3, 4:1, 5:4, 4:3)
Barrage
Spandau – NBG Vukovi 16:8 (6:4, 2:2, 4.1, 4:1)
Vašaš – Valis 17:9 (5:2, 3:4, 6:0, 3:3)
Semifinals
Novi Beograd – Vašaš 13:10 (4:3, 4:3, 3:1, 2:3)
Primorac – Spandau 12:11 (3:4, 3:3, 3:2, 3:2).
Final ranking matches
Finals: Primorac – Novi Beograd 21:20 (3:2, 4:4, 1:1, 2:3 – 11:10)
Match for third place: Spandau 04 – Vašas 10:9 (1:1, 4:2, 2:2, 2:3)
Match for fifth place: NBG Vukovi – Valis 16:14 (4:1, 4:4, 3:4, 5:5)
