Saudi Arabian water polo club, Al-Qadisiyah, won the 13th edition of the Arab Water Polo Clubs Championship which was held at the Heliopolis Sporting Club (HSC) in Cairo.
Al-Qadisiyah won the championship’s final match against Gezira Sporting Club (GSC) with the result of 8-6. GSC took home silver for Egypt.
HSC defeated the Moroccan club Wydad Al-Ouma with a final score of 25-5. Despite an excellent play, HSC came in 3rd.
Al-Qadisiyah is keen on signing foreign players, including those from Serbia, which is the highest ranked country in water polo.
Serbian-Montenegrin goalkeeper and Olympic medallist Denis Šefik plays for the Saudi Arabian clubs water polo team.
In the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Šefik was part of the Serbian national men’s team, which won bronze.
After Yugoslavia’s breakup in 1991, Serbia and Montenegro formed the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in 1992. In the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, Serbia and Montenegro participated together, under the name of the union, and won the silver medal. Šefik was a member of the union’s national water polo team. Serbia and Montenegro remained united until 2006.
In addition to Šefik, Al-Qadisiyah signed Serbian Yugslav Vasovic as a coach for its water polo team. Vasovic told Daily News Egypt that he joined the team last month.
In Algeria, the sport is practiced in Algiers, Constantine, and Sétif. Daily News Egypt spoke to the water polo team at the Algerian club of Entente Sportive de Sétif. The current players are Mekhalef Ouassim, Mekhalef Anis, Mekhalef Sofiane, Mekhalef Ilyes, Karim Kara, and Ballouti Lakhdar.
The team said water polo needs great improvement in Algeria, commenting that: “the problem is that water polo players in Algeria start as swimmers, then switch to water polo. So they do not learn the sport from its basics.”
