Another team that will compete in the second semi-final on Saturday, 26. August, (with Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia) is Hungary. Hungary was already a part of City Games project, but still didn´t won a medal yet in the international final. Maybe this year´s team from University of Pecs will be manage to change that. In Hungary City Games didn´t hold qualification, that´s why team from Hungary will play for the first time in Biograd.

University of Pecs created very strong team for City Games. Like every other team, they mixed athletes from different sport and they hope they found a perfect combination. Women in the team are swimmer, dancer, handball player and athletic, while men are swimmers, handball, basketball and football players. Their leader is Jozsef Hari, a headmaster of sport in University of Pecs, which celebrates 650 anniversary of foundation this year.

He is aware that it would be hard to be competitive against other experienced teams, but they will not come to Biograd to give up without fight: ˝We have a team, made from professional athletes. We haven´t been in City Games before so we are not familiar with games, but we will have training before and will for sure do everything to go through to the final. For us this participation is something really special and we are really grateful for it.˝

 

 

Macedonia will be represented by experienced team from Skopje. They competed in 2014 for the first time in international final and finished as fifth. The next year third place in the international semi-final was good enough to enter the final and Skopje finished there on 5^th position. This year in Biograd Macedonia team will be even stronger and their goal is to enter the final.

Skopje will bring professional athletes in City Games. Girls in the team know how to deal with a ball – two of them are handball players and one is football player. Maja, the girl that easily scores goals with head in flying water polo, won the bronze medal in world championship in Footballtennis together with the captain of the team, Petar. Petar is professional gymnast that competed in European and World championships, while every other competitors were the best in their sport in Macedonia and they were also a part of international competitions (swimming, judo, kayak, crossfit).

˝We expect very good and challenging competition in the semi-final, but we hope to enter the final. This will be our fourth performance on City Games, so we have some experience now. All of our participator are the best in the sport they train so it is normal we go for win this year,˝ said captain of the team. Skopje will compete in the second semi-final with Slovenia, Serbia and Hungary.

The first finalist team to introduce this year is Trebinje, team to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia already has experience in competing in City Games finals, but has never won a medal before. For Trebinje this season is the first one they are a part of City Games and they already took the crown in their country.

 

In Bosnian final they were the best in five out of six games, only water alka was not played so well by them, but since they will compete on the second semi-final on Saturday, they will have to improve it (sea alka will be played on the second semi-final) to be competitive and to try to enter the final. They will compete with teams from Slovenia, Serbia and Hungary.

 

In team Trebinje we have mixture of many different athletes – they train swimming, athletics, judo and hiking. As their captain Gradimir Ćirić said, they were really satisfy with winning national final, since they compete the first time in City Games: ˝We didn´t have so much time and even equipment to practice as much as we wanted. Qualifying for the international semi-final is our biggest achievement. We will compete against very strong teams that already have experience, but we will still do our best to win one of the first two places to enter the final. We will play some new games in the semi-final and will try to learn them as fast as possible. But above all, we expect a good entertainment and hanging out. For us being a part of this project is totally new, but beautiful experience.˝

Kranj has hosted City Games for the third year in a row and made once again spectacle out of it. The last event before the international part of City Games was Slovenian final where the best six teams from challenger competed. Traditional battle between Maribor and Velenje was on and they for sure proved their quality. But Maribor was last night stronger. For the second time in a row this year they took every possible points and easily win with 65 points in their account. Velenje took silver with 46 points, while Kranj, ZS Gladiatorji deserved bronze medals with 31 points.

 

Like we supposed, Maribor and Velenje really was much better than others. Maribor won all of the six games, Velenje was second in five of them. And it was quite tight result in some of them but obviously Maribor was a bit more concentrated and calmly changed the lead into the final victory.

 

In flying water polo Maribor set their personal record with 445 points, Velenje won 416 points and Kranj, Kranjski orli, which showed much better performance than in challenger, 332 points. Just the same result was in tourist rescuing, where first three teams came within seven seconds and Maribor again was the fastest. Even the women part of Maribor´s team which leaded the barrel race, came out as the strongest, finishing their task in 1:15. Velenje finished in 1:24 and Ajdovščina in the third place in 1:48.

 

Water alka was played very well by all of the teams and still ended with win of Maribor. They collected 16 points, Velenje in the second place 14 points and Kranj, ZS Gladiatorji 11. The most spectacular game of the day was water basket and direct competition between big rivals. Maribor overcome Velenje for only 2 seconds and both of the team heated spectators with their excellent performance. Kranj, ZS Gladiatorji stayed more than 35 seconds behind. It was a great battle for the third place in total between both teams from Kranj. The home team, Kranjski orli, could overcome the other team if they have won the paddle, but Štajerske vijolice played it perfectly again and made impressive result, winning in all of the games.

 

Maribor is the last international semi-finalist and will compete in the second semi-final in Biograd na Moru on Saturday, 26.8. They will play there with Serbia, Macedonia and Hungary and will fight for the first two places that leads to the final.

Maribor, Štajerske vijolice: ˝We had some troubles making the final team because of some cancellation, but in the end we found one very strong player that perfectly filled the gap. We came here to have fun and we for sure did that. Our team is together for three years now, we know the games, the tactic and we know how to work as a team. This was today the key to success, we won in every game and that is just fantastic achievement. In the international semi-final we will enjoy, especially at the seaside, but we will for sure give our best.˝

 

RESULTS:

1^st place: MARIBOR, Štajerske vijolice – 65 points (yellow)

2^nd place: VELENJE, Velenje – 46 points (orange)

3^rd place: KRANJ, ZS Gladiatorji – 31 points (red)

4^th place: KRANJ, Kranjski orli – 28 points (blue)

5^th place: AJDOVŠČINA, Ajdovščina – 16 points (green)

6^th place: DUPLEK, Dupleška mornarica – 9 points (dark blue)

 

Photo: Jan Mastrović

Six very good teams that got to the final through challengers will tonight in Kranj, Slovenia, compete for the last place that leads into the international semi-final that will be on 25. – 26. August in Biograd na Moru, Croatia. Eight different European countries will compete there and Slovenia is the last to give a team.

Six teams with possibility to fill that spot are Maribor, Duplek, Ajdovščina, Velenje, Kranj and the home team Kranj – Kranjski orli. In total they are all well experienced team with of course some freshmans. It is expected a great competition for a win between Velenje, the current Slovenian champion, and Maribor, the current Slovenian vice champion. This battle lasts for many years now and due to very similar profile of the both teams the difference between them is always in details. But, for what we saw, there are much better teams this year in the final, waiting for their chance to surprise the favorites.

Teams will play six games – flying water polo, tourist rescuing, barrel race, water alka, water basket and paddle. It will be interesting to see the start. Velenje and Maribor got very similar points in flying water polo in challenger, but other teams showed big improvements and with good trainings they for sure can overcome them. Tourist rescuing is always interesting to see, because many things can go wrong. Women will then prove their quality and technique in paddling in the barrel which can be very difficult and in water alka then is again luck really important factor. Water basket should be reserved for swimmers from Velenje and Maribor and the paddle, the most point giver, could give a Slovenian winner.

Koper was last night again a place – for the third one – where City Games tour came by. It was time for the last national challenger that was organized by Občina Koper, Koorperativa Konjice and Adria Events agency. Six teams competed in the spectacular pool close to the sea and was fighting for one place that leads to the Slovenian final. Velenje, current national champion, was the favorite and proved it in the pool. They took the gold with 60 points. The second placed team was home team Koper – Captain Nedoh, very talented team, which won 47 points, while Maribor – Cvetke took bronze with 35 points.

 

We have many great athletes in the pool, of which the special feature was for sure Paralympic Primož Jeralič, which competed for Ivančna Gorica. He said it was pleasure for him to compete in City Games which brought to him something totally new. He accepted the water challenge, he enjoyed it and he won once again in his life. The second remarkable person was in the team Velenje professional swimmer Nastja Govejšek, the youngest athlete in Slovenian team in Olympic Games in London 2012 and is for sure the best Slovenian sprinter in freestyle and butterfly in recent years.

 

The great atmosphere in Koper was made especially by great competitors, trying to do the tasks as fast, strong and skillful as possible. They played six games – flying water polo, tourist rescuing, treasure, prosciutto, water basket and paddle. In the beginning Velenje took the lead and showed their great experience. It would be interesting to see what would home team Koper be capable to do if they had more experience due lot of talent they possess. They easily took the silver, while Maribor and Kranj were fighting for bronze where Maribor showed as a stronger team.

 

We know now every Slovenian finalists – Maribor, Duplek, Ajdovščina, Velenje, Kranj – ZA Kranj and home team Kranj – Kranjski orli. It will be good final and for what we saw we will be able to witness the great competition between Maribor and Velenje. The final will take place this Friday in Kranj.

 

RESULTS:

1^st place: VELENJE, Velenje – 60 points (dark blue)

2^nd place: KOPER, Captain Neduh – 47 points (yellow)

3^rd place: MARIBOR, Cvetke – 35 points (orange)

4^th place: KRANJ, ZA Kranj – 28 points (green)

5^th place: KOPER, Spiaggia bar – 14 points (blue)

6^th place: IVANČNA GORICA, VIP – 13 points (red)

 

Photo: Jan Mastrović

Ajdovščina hosted City Games again and again there were spectacular event in this beautiful Slovenian city. The organizers tried something new last night – the system of two teams, two different cities competing between each other. It was found really successful, especially thanks to the two very good teams, also. The home team Ajdovščina took the gold with 8 points, while Kranj, Kranjski orli achieved 7 for the silver.

 

We haven´t seen such a great spectators and atmosphere as was in the pool in Ajdovščina last time for a long period now. As the director of the organizers Miroslav Krzyk said, it was one of the best event this year in total. Even before we started, more than 1000 spectators was already warmed up and ready to support their team, but was also really fair and always supported the guest team from Kranj also.

 

They played seven different games – flying water polo, tourist rescuing, prosciutto, fisherman´s crates, water basket, barrel race and paddle. Even audience was this time managed to play two games – puzzle and donkey race.

 

Better start in the competition was made by Ajdovščina, winning first game with tight result – with 8 points difference in flying water polo. Kranj was faster in tourist rescuing, while Ajdovščina won next two – prosciutto and crates. Kranj then showed better performance in swimming and shooting into basket, while home team, consisted of very successful local athletes, was few seconds faster in paddling into the barrel.

 

The final game was paddle where Kranj was stronger, but still couldn´t overcome Ajdovščina. Ajdovščina with the win deserved the ticket for the final that will take place in Kranj this Friday.

 

RESULTS:

1^st place: AJDOVŠČINA, Ajdovščina – 8 points (yellow)

2^nd place: KRANJ, Kranjski orli – 7 points (blue)

 

Photo: Jan Mastrović