Jelenic: All set for start of European Water Polo Championship in Belgrade

BELGRADE - Serbian Water Polo Federation President Viktor Jelenic said everything was prepared for Saturday's start of the European Water Polo Championship in Belgrade and that he expected Serbia to win the gold medal.

The championship will be held at the Belgrade Arena from January 10 through 25.

At a press conference, Jelenic said he expected high attendance at the tournament, as well as support from Serbia fans.

"We start tomorrow, the Arena is ready. What will happen at the end is the most important thing to me. That is the most important thing to us in Belgrade. We are the Olympic champions, we should be at our best. We will see what will happen - we are hoping for the gold medal. There are many teams that want to win the championship," he said.

European Aquatics President Antonio Silva said he was very pleased the European championship was to be held in Belgrade again and noted that Belgrade was one of his favourite cities.

Serbia head coach Uros Stevanovic said he expected an unpredictable tournament.

"I hope everyone will be enjoying their time in Belgrade over the next two weeks. A good job has been done and seven or eight national teams that came here to win medals await us. The path to the semi-finals is long and difficult. We have to think about one game at a time. Our first match is against the Netherlands, a team that had good results during preparations. After that, a clash with Spain - a derby - follows. They have been the dominant team in the past several years, they came to achieve a great result," Stevanovic said, adding that the pressure on his team was high but that the home crowd would give energy to his players.