The Croatia men’s water polo team secured a convincing 19–13 (3–2, 2–3, 8–2, 6–5) win over Montenegro to finish fifth at the World Championships in Singapore.
Ivica Tucak’s squad defeated Montenegro for the second time at this tournament, closing out their campaign with five wins overall. Unfortunately, a single quarterfinal loss to an energetic Hungarian team meant Croatia had to settle for fifth place.
The turning point came in the third quarter. Croatia pulled away with a dominant 8–2 run, including two mini-surges of 3–0 and 5–0.
The first two quarters were tightly contested, with no team taking a real advantage. Montenegro led 6–5 at halftime. But Croatia roared back in the third, scoring three unanswered goals to go up 8–6. Montenegro briefly equalized (8–8), but two goals from Konstantin Kharkov reignited Croatia’s momentum. Luka Bukić, Marko Žuvela, and Loren Fatović capped off a decisive 5–0 run to extend the lead to a game-breaking 13–8.
Žuvela led the charge with five goals, Bukić added four on perfect shooting, and Kharkov chipped in three. Goalkeeper Marko Bijač recorded eight saves. Montenegro’s top scorer was Filip Gardašević with three goals.
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