SPORT

SERBIA LEFT WITHOUT MEDAL AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Greece Celebrates in Battle for Third Place!

by Serbian Times24. July 2025.24. July 2025.

In the bronze medal match at the World Championship in Singapore, Greece convincingly defeated Serbia 16:7 (2:2, 6:0, 3:3, 6:2).

Serbia has failed to win a medal at the World Championship for eight years. In 2017, they secured a bronze medal by winning the third-place match against Greece. And now, the “Dolphins” played for bronze against Greece again, but this time they were unsuccessful.

Serbian Offense Struggles, Greece Dominates Second Quarter

From the start, Serbia faced significant problems in offense. Uroš Stevanović’s team struggled to find the net, even in man-up situations. However, their defense functioned decently, so the score after the first eight minutes was positive – 2:2. This was largely thanks to Vasilije Martinović, who scored a goal in the final seconds of the first quarter.

But the real ordeal began in the second period. It started with a long-range goal from Papanikolaou as the attack expired. And from then on, a scoring run began. Ultimately, Greece scored six goals in the second quarter, while Serbia failed to find the net even once, and at halftime, it was 8:2 for Greece.

The scoring streak continued into the second half. First from a penalty, then another long-range goal from open play. This time it was Vangelos Pouros, and Greece led 10:2. It was already clear then that the “Dolphins” would struggle to come back and threaten the Greeks in their mission to claim a new world bronze.

Martinović a Lone Bright Spot

The almost 12-minute goal drought for Serbia was finally broken by Nikola Murišić. He capitalized on a man-up situation, and at that point, Serbia’s man-up conversion rate was a dismal 2/6. The third quarter ended with a respectable 3:3 score, largely thanks to Vasilije Martinović, who scored two of Serbia’s three goals in this period.

Vasilije Martinović was one of Serbia’s few bright spots, being by far the most effective player with four goals. Centers Nemanja Vico and Nikola Murišić each scored one goal, and Dušan Mandić also scored once.