{"id":44064,"date":"2026-07-10T14:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/?post_type=news&#038;p=44064"},"modified":"2026-07-10T14:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:54:02","slug":"president-milanovic-receives-young-water-polo-players-and-congratulates-them-on-winning-gold-at-the-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-receives-young-water-polo-players-and-congratulates-them-on-winning-gold-at-the-world-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"President Milanovi\u0107 Receives Young Water Polo Players and Congratulates Them on Winning Gold at the World Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The President of the Republic Zoran Milanovi\u0107 today received members of Croatia\u2019s U-18 men\u2019s national water polo team and congratulated them on winning the gold medal at the U-18 World Water Polo Championship held in Portugal in early July this year. The young athletes were accompanied by members of the national team\u2019s coaching staff and representatives of the Croatian Water Polo Federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a great success. Congratulations to all of you. I believe that we will celebrate your future successes as well, just as we are celebrating this one,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 told the young water polo players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On behalf of the team, the President of the Croatian Water Polo Federation Mladen Drnasin thanked the President of the Republic for the reception, which, he said, meant a great deal to the young water polo players. \u201cThey achieved an outstanding result, and they deserve the greatest credit for it. I hope that in the coming years they will once again give us reason to invite them to the Office of the President,\u201d Drnasin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U-18 World Water Polo Championship was held in Rio Maior, Portugal, where Croatia\u2019s U-18 men\u2019s national water polo team won the gold medal in the final match against the United States junior national team, thereby taking the championship title from Hungary. On their way to the gold medal, the young Croatian water polo players defeated Hungary, Serbia, Italy and Spain \u2013 all formidable water polo nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During their conversation with the President, they also recalled the circumstances that made the gold medal an even greater achievement: the young water polo team came together literally just before the start of the competition, with little time for joint preparations, while some players were simultaneously taking their State Matura exams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Present at the Office of the President of the Republic were members of the junior water polo team Nikola Bato\u0161, Marin Bajurin, Dominik Beljan, Matej \u0160ori\u0107, Filip Rogi\u0107, Deni Sappe, Mihael Mladineo, Ivano Lon\u010dar, Nardo Draga\u0161, Toma Drobac, Nikola Feri\u0107, Toni Galu\u0161i\u0107, Nardo Skeji\u0107 and Duje Burazin. They were accompanied by Hrvoje Koljanin, head coach of the U-18 national team, Emil Nikoli\u0107, head of the youth national teams, and Andro Petri\u0107, sports official. The Croatian Water Polo Federation delegation consisted of Mladen Drnasin, President of the Croatian Water Polo Federation; Perica Buki\u0107, Executive Vice President of the Croatian Water Polo Federation; Ratko Rudi\u0107, President of the Croatian Water Polo Federation Expert Council; Ivan Milakovi\u0107, Secretary General of the Croatian Water Polo Federation; and Milivoj Bebi\u0107, Member of the Executive Board and President of the Olympians Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Milanovi\u0107 was accompanied by Tomislav Pa\u0161kvalin, Commissioner of the President of the Republic for Sports.<\/p>\n\n\n<!--GALLERY BLOCK-->\n<div class=\"c-lightbox-gallery js-lightbox\">\n                <!--single-->\n            <a data-no-swup class=\"c-lightbox-gallery__single js-lightbox-single\"\n               href=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8097-1024x576.jpg\"\n               style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8097-768x432.jpg')\"><\/a>\n            <!--end single-->\n                    <!--single-->\n            <a data-no-swup class=\"c-lightbox-gallery__single js-lightbox-single\"\n               href=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8120-1024x576.jpg\"\n               style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8120-768x432.jpg')\"><\/a>\n            <!--end single-->\n                    <!--single-->\n            <a data-no-swup class=\"c-lightbox-gallery__single js-lightbox-single\"\n               href=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8440-1024x576.jpg\"\n               style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8440-768x432.jpg')\"><\/a>\n            <!--end single-->\n                    <!--single-->\n            <a data-no-swup class=\"c-lightbox-gallery__single js-lightbox-single\"\n               href=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8502-1024x576.jpg\"\n               style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8502-768x432.jpg')\"><\/a>\n            <!--end single-->\n        <\/div>\n<!--end GALLERY BLOCK-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia \/ Marko Beljan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The President of the Republic Zoran Milanovi\u0107 today received members of Croatia\u2019s U-18 men\u2019s national water polo team and congratulated them on winning the gold medal at the U-18 World Water Polo Championship held in Portugal in early July this year. The young athletes were accompanied by members of the national team\u2019s coaching staff and representatives of the Croatian Water Polo Federation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44063,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-44064","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>President Milanovi\u0107 Receives Young Water Polo Players and Congratulates Them on Winning Gold at the World Championship - President of the Republic of Croatia - Zoran Milanovi\u0107<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-receives-young-water-polo-players-and-congratulates-them-on-winning-gold-at-the-world-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Milanovi\u0107 Receives Young Water Polo Players and Congratulates Them on Winning Gold at the World Championship - President of the Republic of Croatia - Zoran Milanovi\u0107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The President of the Republic Zoran Milanovi\u0107 today received members of Croatia\u2019s U-18 men\u2019s national water polo team and congratulated them on winning the gold medal at the U-18 World Water Polo Championship held in Portugal in early July this year. The young athletes were accompanied by members of the national team\u2019s coaching staff and representatives of the Croatian Water Polo Federation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-receives-young-water-polo-players-and-congratulates-them-on-winning-gold-at-the-world-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"President of the Republic of Croatia - Zoran Milanovi\u0107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T12:54:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC_8097.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"6191\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3482\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.predsjednik.hr\\\/en\\\/news\\\/president-milanovic-receives-young-water-polo-players-and-congratulates-them-on-winning-gold-at-the-world-championship\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.predsjednik.hr\\\/en\\\/news\\\/president-milanovic-receives-young-water-polo-players-and-congratulates-them-on-winning-gold-at-the-world-championship\\\/\",\"name\":\"President Milanovi\u0107 Receives Young Water Polo Players and Congratulates Them on Winning Gold at the World Championship - 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