The eight season of City Games has come to an end and for the first time Slovenian team took the gold and prestige crown of City Games international champion in dramatically final part. Maribor won 25 points after six games, while home team Ploče, Croatia, gathered only one less – 24 points. With 19 points Macedonia took bronze, while defending champion, Herceg Novi, Montenegro, finished on 4^th position with 10 points.

 

Slovenia perfectly opened up the games, making impressively 18 points in the first game – sea alka. Macedonia took 4 points for 13 points, while Montenegro made 8 points in the third position. Winning first game, Slovenia flew up even in the second game, Adriatic battle, where men brought the flag to the land the fastest. But the result in that game was very tight – Macedonia came two seconds behind Slovenian team and Croatia three more behind Macedonia.

 

The prove that teams are really very equal was shown in wine, where all four came within 0,7 liter. Croatia showed they are not unfamiliar with producing wine, for Slovenia it is well known they know how to do it and last night even Montenegro proved making wine is quite general thing around the world. In the fourth game sea basket Maribor achieved third win and did it easily this time. They played the game perfectly, scoring the basket for the first time by every player and finished in 2:34. Only one second has separated Croatia (2:50) and Montenegro (2:51), but Macedonia was much behind (3:29).

 

When it seemed Slovenia will took the crown for the first time, fisherman´s crates came and changed everything. Croatia was the fastest and precise enough to came first (3:04), and Montenegro team would be even faster if they didn´t make mistake just before the end and get penalty seconds (3:16). Macedonia also received penalties and finished in 3:25, while Maribor, once again, thrown crates couple of time and with 0 points for time 3:50. The game for victory was one.

 

As many times until now, paddle was decisive and it gave the new City Games winner. Slovenia in the first semi-final lost with Macedonia, Croatia on the other hand won against Montenegro and went to the final. Slovenia then won against Montenegro to achieved 3 points in paddle. The big final came in the end and Macedonia was stronger of Croatian team what meant that Slovenia won the title of the City Games international winner.

 

After 58 days of City Games 2017 tour, the games has came to an end with victory ceremony and with after party, where teams has united between each other and had fun, as the main goal of City Games project is.

 

RESULTS:

1^st place: SLOVENIA, Maribor – 25 points

2^nd place: CROATIA, Ploče – 24 points

3^rd place: MACEDONIA, Skopje – 19 points

4^th place: MONTENEGRO, Herceg Novi – 10 points

Yesterday it was time for second international semi-final, where four very good teams competed. After Montenegro and Croatia we got another two teams to play in the final and the honor went to very experienced team from Slovenia, Maribor (34 points) and Macedonia, Skopje (21 points), which was a little surprise. Serbia, Kragujevac achieved the same points as Macedonia, but came third due to worse position in the last game.

 

Teams had probably the most physically intense games in the whole City Games tour, playing sea alka, tourist rescuing, Adriatic battle, prosciutto, sea basket, and so teams with larger amounts of good player could rested some of them. The player from Maribor expose exactly that thing: ˝We played very hard games last night and it was clear that one or two players couldn´t do it. So we changed much and we figured out we have wide specter of excellent players which is really encouraging for us. We are here to have fun, but tomorrow we will anyway try to win for the first time in Slovenian history.˝

 

Even if result don´t show it, the difference between teams were not so big. We have watched some really interesting and tight battles and teams passed challenging games very good. Macedonia and Slovenia obviously have very similar way of playing, while they came exactly the same in two games. Many great spectators from different countries and players once again found out, how important the game paddle is. Serbia were in the 2^nd position before it, going 6 points ahead of Macedonia. But as their very funny guy said, they for sure don´t weight enough to be competitive in that game which really turned out to be true. But they were happy anyway: ˝We wanted to enter the final, but we are not sad. Our main point of City Games is having a good time. We don´t train, we just love to hang out with a team and make new friendships.˝

 

Macedonia took all points in paddle (Serbia took Adriatic battle, while other four was won by Slovenians) and came ahead on second position: ˝We have experience in playing City Games and we wanted to go through. We are really satisfy, we passed in the last seconds, but we did. Tomorrow we expect great competition between four very good teams and we will give our best to win it.˝

 

We cannot not tell you something about University of Pecs, Hungary which played the games for the first time and really was good, comparing to other well experienced teams. They were totally enthusiastic about City Games and they already express the wish to come to play games again.

 

As we said – the big final between Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia will be played tomorrow in Biograd in the evening and could be the final with one of the most strong and spectacular teams.

 

 

RESULTS:

1st place: SLOVENIA, Maribor – 34 points

2nd place: MACEDONIA, Skopje – 21 points

3rd place: SERBIA, Kragujevac – 21 points

4th place: HUNGARY, University of Pecs – 6 points

After long season City Games tour has arrived to the final destination – Biograd na Moru. That nice touristic city in Dalmatia has hosted international finals for many years now and once again proved they are manage to do a great event. In the first semi-final there were four teams, fighting for two positions to enter the final, and expected teams won the event. Montenegro took the first position and Croatia the second. The third Italians and fourth Bosnians showed good performance, but has a bit lack of experience in the end.

Teams were playing six different games and there were no team that run ahead during the competition. Montenegro took the victory in flying water polo, where Croatia were not so far behind. Croatia then took the six points for being the most precise in archers, while the second came Montenegro and favorites were even after first two assignments. Then result changed after turning into more technical demanding games. As a country of wine it was normally Italians won the game, named wine, where their men made great job in bringing grapes and women totally ruled in squeezing it. Only 2 dcl less wine was made by Croatian team, while Montenegro took the third position.

Italians then proved they can manage – along with wine – the stubborn donkey, too and with second win they came along with leaders – three of them had the exact amount of points after fourth game. Bosnians were great in leading the blind donkey and took 4 points here. Fisherman´s crates offered many spectacular occurrences – women were falling out of a boat, crates and fishes finished in the totally wrong positions as it should – falling down during the run, some of them fell even in the sea. The last game, paddle, one of the most attractive game for spectators, which were – anyway – fabulous last night, bring up the winner of the night – the Montenegro team. As it is known, this team from Herceg Novi took the international crown two years ago, while current champion, the other team from Herceg Novi, this year took silver in their country. Croatia with silver also passed to the final, while Italians and Bosnians, very pleasured teams, were not said because they didn´t passed through. As they said, it was a great experience and due they played many of games for the first time, they cannot be unsatisfied. They came to have fun, they had it so they actually turn out as winners.

Montenegro: ˝We expected to pass to the final on a first position and we did that. Very good job, as always, made our great girls. Today we played archers unexpectedly good for the first time, but had some problem in donkey race. In the final we will try to improve the mistakes we made today. I expect the final to be very tight, we saw some teams came really prepared, but we will try to win, as always.˝

The only team that competed in last year international final and will be part of this year City Games international semi-final is team from Serbia – Kragujevac. Kragujevac played City Games for the first time last year, won in Serbian final and the fifth position in international part. This year they won in Serbian final again and it was clear that their experience helped them much.

Serbia team consists of many professional athletes. The captain of the team is European champion in triathlon and vice champion in World championship, among this he is also region champion in high diving. Also one of the women is champion in high diving, while other two do athletics, swimming and handball and are also national champions. Anyway, Kragujevac made very fast swimmers team, but also managed to include a basketball player, kayak champion and wrestler.

Serbians are for sure one of the main favorites for the final for what we saw until now, but it is clear that there are no bad teams in international semi-final. Expectations? ˝We were 5th last year and we want to take a medal this year. We are all professional athletes with very good results, including winning medals in European and World championships. That´s why City Games for us is very good fun and entertainment, but it´s in our nature to try to win every time.˝

Herceg Novi is a Montenegro city which gives an international City Games champion for the last two years. What is interesting is the fact that two different teams won that special title and after being second in last year´s national final, the team Jadran Škver is back in the game. In 2015 they took the international title and this year, after taking Montenegro´s crown, they will try to do the same.

Herceg Novi is a team of professional and amateur athletes, like every other. Strong part of the team are sisters Milica, the captain, and Ivana, both loving water (swimmer and water polo player). Many men in the team are also water polo players, a part of the team is a record holder in kayak and people who love sport in general. It will be interesting to see how they will cope with for them unusual games.

But the goal is always the same: ˝It is clear that our team every single time go only for a win, no matter who is on the other side of prosciutto or paddle. It is the same this year. If someone wants to get an international title, we will stay in the way. We have renown, history and fierce spirit and in a combination with good atmosphere in the team is obvious what we want out of competition. We will always congratulate to better one but water never lies – you have to win over us there.˝

Slovenia is regular feature on City Games and also this year´s representor is. Team Maribor is a part of our manifestation for many years and have many great results. Two years ago they were the second in international final and this is also the best result for Slovenia, which took silver couple of times, but still waiting for the prestige win. Slovenia will play second semi-final with Serbia, Hungary and Macedonia and will be one of the favorites for the final.

Maribor amusing introduce their team: ˝We are the lovers of sea, sun and sport. We are handful of people that is gratefully amusing of rescuing tourists, scoring goals with head, gasping for prosciutto and every other summer pranks, playing in the sea. All off this united us in an inseparable team. Spending many summers, playing City Games, brought us to the fact that we cannot imagine our summer time without Jadranko. From our first play of flying water polo has passed many years, but team hasn´t changed much. The captain of the team is always smiled Luka, boy that rescued more tourists than whole Slovenian coast guard. Her assistant and PR of the team is her sister Petra and when they are both on family lunch, the boss become another Luka. He is probably the best scorer in the history of flying water polo. The most precise one, when playing alka, are for sure Jernej and Nika. Playing water games, we cannot go without excellent swimmer, where mentioned one round up Žan Miha and the star of the team, Martin, which swam in Olympic Games in Rio last year. In the game wine we have to be good, while we come from wine region. And the girl to squeeze grape until last droplet is our beauty Nina. This year we won national title for the first time and after three second places in row we for sure deserved the Slovenian crown. We will see if we are manage to take the international one, too. The memory from two years ago, when we were second and lost the title tightly, is still very fresh. So we hope the luck will be on our side this year!˝

Croatia, as host country, organize the most events there, so the winning team has the most competition of all of the participating countries to beat. For the first time team Ploče won the title of the Croatian champion and will be after competing many years on City Games for the first time a part of international semi-final.

Croatia has many titles of the best in the international finals, but didn´t won gold in recent years. Team Ploče will be one of the favorites in Biograd, especially because of the nature of their competitors – the games in the semi-final and final should suit for them. The men part of the team are rowers and are fully fit, due to their regular trainings. The women part are more familiar with a ball – they play handball in a local club. Croatia will play City Games on the first semi-final with Montenegro – current international champion, BIH and Italy.

Their captain was careful with announcement: ˝Our team played four Croatian finals and this year we really worked hard and it has obviously payed off. I really can´t tell about expectations in semi-final, due to excellent teams that will compete in it. I think our big experience will for sure help us and we will try to enter the final. ˝