WATER POLO : Yugoslavia Is Winner Over Canada

In a country where outdoor pools are impractical and the season is in winter rather than summer, creating a world-class Canadian water polo team is difficult.

How difficult was evident Sunday when Canada was defeated, 15-4, by tournament favorite Yugoslavia at Cal State Long Beach in second-round pool play of the World Junior Water Polo Championships.

Yugoslavia took a 6-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Canada switched to a 2-3 zone and improved its play.

Zeljko Vicevic and Zarko Petovic scored three goals for Yugoslavia, and Bryce Beatty scored twice for Canada. Yugoslavia improved to 2-0, and Canada dropped to 0-2.

“That this team is here is only a fluke,” Canadian Junior Coach John Csikos said, trying to describe the difficulties that Canadian water polo faces. “We somehow convinced enough people to let the juniors go to Puerto Rico last summer, and then we qualified (for the world championships) and surprised everyone.

“No one expected us to qualify. We had had half the team from the East and half from the West. Five were from Quebec and spoke French, and eight spoke English. None had played together before, and we had four days before the tournament to try and make them jell.”