Russian national water polo team coach: “Thanks to the Serbs for the training, it was important for us”

Men’s Head Coach Russian national team Water polo player Andrei Belofastov told that during the training camp with the Serbian team he managed to get a lot of important information for further work, which is now being implemented at the training camp in Kislovodsk.

The Russian men’s team held a training camp in Serbia and played five matches with the host team.

— We took 16 athletes to Serbia. The Serbs were without three players because the Champions League ended just before. We also did not call up Daniil Merkulov, the Champions League winner, we congratulate him on that. They did not call up Dmitry Kholod, who also had a good season and went to play in the summer league. Nikita Krug also missed the training camp for family reasons. We held the training camp at the Radnički club, where Uroš Stefanović has been working for many years. It was very important and useful for us. The Serbian team is one of the strongest. Although it is currently undergoing a generational change, the team is strong and ready for battle. We played five test matches. We won the first match with a score of 9:6, we played well, everything went well for us, (Petr) Fedotov defended superbly and saved three penalties out of six. The second match the next day was a draw 14:14 – the Serbs played much more aggressively, we lost four goals to them, but we snatched this final positive score in the match. We lost the third match 14:16, everything was quite tight. In the last two matches, Serbia already had a serious advantage of 15:10 and 19:9. We are not used to playing in such a schedule. But we are very happy that we examined the young players and collected all the necessary information. Many thanks to the Serbs for welcoming us halfway in such a difficult period, and thanks to our federation.

We now have a training camp in Kislovodsk, with an expanded line-up. Emphasis on technical preparation, work on counterattacks, playing under pressure. The training camp in Serbia showed that we are a little behind the Serbs in terms of contact, we are inferior in pressing and speed of thought.

“We had the idea to go to China for training matches and a training camp, but they did not qualify for the Games and for now the team has been disbanded to rest,” Belofastov told .

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