Croatia wins first Olympic water polo title

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Croatia wins first Olympic water polo title

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Croatia won its first Olympic water polo title on Sunday.

12 August,2012 11:37 pm

As grueling as winning Croatias first Olympic water polo title might be, celebrating it might turn out to be even more exhausting.Goalkeeper Josip Pavic anchored a sparkling Croatia defense, and Miho Boskovic and Maro Jokovic both scored twice in the second half as Croatia pulled away from Italy for an 8-6 win Sunday to claim the gold medal at the London Games.The win capped a perfect competition for Croatia, which rolled up an 8-0 record on the way to its first Olympic gold in mens water polo and second ever after its silver at the 1996 Atlanta Games.With two of the best defenses and goalkeepers in the tournament facing off against each other, the final began as a bitter defensive struggle. Croatia eventually grabbed control of the match early in the second half after Boskovic slotted home from long distance and then converted a penalty to take a 5-3 lead.Jokovic gave Croatia more breathing room in the fourth quarter with two more goals, setting the countrys fans, dressed in their traditional red-and-white checkered shirts, into a flag-waving frenzy.The key to Croatias gold medal-run was a stingy defense anchored by goalkeeper Josip Pavic, who finished the tournament with a competition-leading save percentage of 70 percent.Since a disappointing ninth-place finish at the 2012 European championship, Croatia has been on a roll, winning the FINA World League Finals last month.In London, they almost made it look easy, topping their group in the preliminary round before crushing the 2008 silver medalist United States 8-2 in the quarterfinals and muscling their way past European championship runner-up Montenegro 7-5 in the semifinals.After the final buzzer, Croatias players and coaches leapt into the pool, tearing the goal down and sitting on top of it in the water. They danced and sang as their fans chanted Hrvatska Hrvatska