Rebellion of Serbian water polo players: 11 of them will not play for the national team because of the head of the Federation

The press release of the 11 players who won gold medals at the Olympic Games in Paris and the European Championship in Belgrade is transmitted in its entirety.

“As long-time national team members, current European and three-time Olympic champions, we believe it is necessary to announce the latest developments in our Association.

The new president of the Association, Slobodan Soro, has repeatedly tried to discredit and belittle all our successes in the last few years through his statements. Our gold medals were not in the least a reflection of momentary inspiration, as Slobodan Soro states, but years of great sacrifices, training, togetherness and struggle.

Also, we would like to remind the public that several players from the current team of the national team have already been exposed to unsportsmanlike actions by Slobodan Sor and his team of people in VK Novi Beograd, from the ban on training, expulsion from the club, not being allowed to play for the national team, etc.

We believe that even then all those actions were done in order to harm our national team, our community and to prevent the further progress of Serbian representative water polo. Our team, as the most trophy-winning national team of Serbia, deserves a president of the Association worthy of everything we fought for all these years, someone who will defend our interests, stand up for us, value everything won and encourage further winning of trophies.

We are proud of everything we achieved with the cap of Serbia – every game, every victory, but also every difficult moment that made us stronger as a team. As the current European and three-time Olympic champions, we believe that with our results we have clearly shown who we are and what we represent. The last ten years of water polo in Serbia undoubtedly represent one of the most trophy-winning periods in the history of our sport. Throughout our career, we have been guided by the principles of respect, dignity and fair play. We showed that respect to everyone, including Slobodan Soro, today’s president of the Association, even in the period when he played for the Brazilian national team and played against Serbia in the biggest competitions.

We witnessed that even then he made maximum efforts to stop the path of the Serbian national team towards the greatest successes, but also that he failed in this – as confirmed by the results we achieved together to the joy of our entire nation. After much thought and mutual discussions, we made a unanimous decision to withdraw from playing for the Serbian water polo team as long as Slobodan Soro and his team of people are at its head.

This decision was very difficult, because playing for the national team has always been the greatest honor and privilege and the dream of every young athlete. Nevertheless, we believe that it is necessary that we personally raise our voice against all those who want to discredit and destroy the hard-won successes of the water polo national team for the sake of their personal interests. We appeal for public support, former and current athletes, people from the world of water polo, and all those who care that the water polo association does not fall into the hands of those who, out of their personal dissatisfaction and whim, want to devalue the past and destroy the future of our most trophy sport.

Players of the Serbian national team: Captain Nikola Jakšić, Dušan Mandić, Strahinja Rašović, Sava Ranđelović, Đorđe Lazić, Nemanja Vico, Nikola Dedović, Viktor Rašović, Petar Jakšić, Radoslav Filipović, Radomir Drašović.

The announcement was not signed only by the water polo players from New Belgrade, Miloš Ćuk, Milan Glušac, Nikola Lukić and Vasilije Martinović.

(Vijesti.ba)