A series of turbulent events in Serbian water polo has continued.
After President Slobodan Soro and Uros Stevanovic, the players have spoken out about the current situation.
Eleven of the 15 members of the team that won European gold this year have announced that they will not play for Serbia as long as Slobodan Soro is president.
The players’ announcement, posted on their social networks:
“As long-time national team members, current European champions, and three-time Olympic champions, we believe it is necessary to speak out regarding the latest developments in our Federation.
The new president of the Federation, Slobodan Soro, has repeatedly attempted through his statements to discredit and diminish all of our achievements over the past several years. Our gold medals were by no means the result of momentary inspiration, as Slobodan Soro claims, but rather the product of years of great sacrifice, training, unity, and struggle.
We would also like to remind the public that several players on the current national team roster have already been subjected to unsportsmanlike conduct by Slobodan Soro and his staff at VK Novi Beograd, including bans from training, expulsions from the club, and preventing players from representing the national team.
We believe that all of those actions were also carried out with the intention of harming our national team, our unity, and preventing the further progress of Serbian water polo. As the most decorated national team in Serbia, our team deserves a Federation president worthy of everything we have fought for over the years — someone who will protect our interests, stand up for us, value everything we have achieved, and encourage the continued winning of trophies.
We are proud of everything we have accomplished wearing the Serbian cap — every match, every victory, but also every difficult moment that made us stronger as a team. As the current European champions and three-time Olympic champions, we believe our results have clearly shown who we are and what we represent. The past ten years of water polo in Serbia undoubtedly represent one of the most successful periods in the history of our sport. Throughout our entire careers, we have been guided by the principles of respect, dignity, and fair play. We showed that respect to everyone, including Slobodan Soro, the current Federation president, even during the period when he played for the Brazilian national team against Serbia at the biggest competitions.
We witnessed that even then, he made every effort to stop the Serbian national team in its path to the greatest successes, but we also witnessed that he failed to do so, as confirmed by the results we achieved together, to the joy of our entire nation. After much consideration and many conversations among ourselves, we have unanimously decided to withdraw from playing for the Serbian national water polo team as long as Slobodan Soro and his team are in charge at the Federation.
This decision was extremely difficult because playing for the national team has always represented the greatest honor and privilege for us, as well as the dream of every young athlete. Nevertheless, we believe it is necessary for us personally to raise our voices against all those who wish to discredit and destroy the hard-earned successes of the national water polo team for the sake of their personal interests. We call for public support from former and current athletes, people from the world of water polo, and everyone who cares that the Water Polo Federation does not fall into the hands of those who, out of personal dissatisfaction and whim, want to devalue the past and destroy the future of our most successful sport”.
The announcement was signed by captain Nikola Jaksic, Dusan Mandic, Strahinja Rasovic, Sava Randjelovic, Djorđje Lazic, Nemanja Vico, Nikola Dedovic, Viktor Rasovic, Petar Jaksic, Radoslav Filipovic and Radomir Drasovic.
Only the players of Novi Beograd, which is understandable, didn’t sign the announcement
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
