USA Men’s Water Polo’s Return Delayed As COVID Cancels Croatian Tournament

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Croatia water polo at the 2015 World Championships; Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

The USA Men’s Water Polo team had been scheduled to return to competition next week in Croatia, but a positive COVID-19 test from a Croatian athlete has cancelled the tournament.

USA Water Polo announced the decision Friday, citing the Croatians’ cancellation.

The USA Men’s National Team was set to resume competition next week at the HEP Cup in Croatia. The event was canceled out of an abundance of caution due to a positive COVID-19 test result from a Croatian athlete. Full statement from the Croatia federation: https://t.co/Pc8YK5FVnh

— USA Water Polo (@USAWP) October 23, 2020

The tournament, the HEP tournament, was supposed to take place Oct. 26-28 in Zagreb. The USA, Montenegro and the hosts were to take part, but a positive test for a Croatian player has ended that. From the press release (translated by Croatian Week):

On Saturday morning, October 24, 2020, the Croatian Water Polo Federation officially received a positive COVID-19 test result from one of our men’s senior national team members who had tested in Zagreb the day before. Consequently, although the tests of all other players and staff members were negative, we were forced to postpone the HEP Cup tournament planned for October 26-28 in Zagreb, which was to feature national teams from Croatia, Montenegro and the United States.

“In terms of sports, we are extremely sorry that we cannot organise the tournament at the moment, but we are fully aware that the health of our players, staff members, all employees involved in organising the tournament, as well as visiting teams and spectators, is our absolute priority. We sincerely hope that in the near future we will be able to organise this tournament, about which we will inform the public in a timely manner;” said Renato Živković, Secretary General of the Croatian Water Polo Federation.

The HEP Cup was scheduled to include the Italian team as the fourth, but a cluster of positives led to the Italians’ withdrawal. It’s not the first time that Croatian water polo has been interrupted with a COVID-19 positive, with a case in August ending a national team camp.

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