Sport

February 11, 2021 - Donna Vekić will play in the 3rd round of the Australian Open for the second time in her career!  The 24-year-old from Osijek made it past last year's Roland Garros' semifinalist in the 2nd round, Argentine Nadia Podoroska (WTA-45) - 6:2, 6:2. In a match that lasted only 62 minutes, Donna dominated from the very beginning - in both sets, she quickly took a 4:1 lead, and she kept that advantage without any problems until the end. During the match, she achieved four aces with a first-serve percentage of 61 percent and took advantage of six of…

February 10, 2021 - The Croatia water polo team coach has announced the final list of players with whom he is going to the Olympic qualifying tournament in Rotterdam. The Olympic qualifiers will be held in Rotterdam from February 14 to 21, and coach Ivica Tucak has decided on 14 players for their trip to the Netherlands. "This is the most difficult decision for every coach, including me, considering that all the guys from the initial 22 who were invited to the preparations gave their best. Eighteen of them were invited to Zagreb, four of which had to drop out. They…

February 10, 2021 - For the second time in four years, Damir Mišković has allegedly managed to overthrow the Croatian Football Referees' Committee.  The Referees' Committee of the Croatian Football Federation is being abolished, and a new one will be formed, which is the epilogue of yesterday's HNS meeting, according to numerous Croatian media, including Sportske Novosti, Index.hr and HRT.  The Referees' Committee, consisting of Ante Kulušić (president), Domagoj Vučkov (member and head of VAR education), Draženko Kovačić, Ante Vučemilović-Šimunović Jr., Vlado Svilokos and Igor Pristovnik thus ceases to exist, and a new Committee will be formed later. Namely, five…

February 9, 2021 - The first Croatia handball player list under coach Horvat has been released ahead of the Olympic Qualifiers next month.  The new coach of the Croatia men's senior national team, Hrvoje Horvat, has published a list of 21 players he is counting on for the Olympic Qualifiers to be held in Montpellier from March 12 to 14, 2021. As is already known, Croatia is in a group with France, Portugal, and Tunisia. The two best national teams from each of the three groups will compete in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Apart from Montpellier, qualifying tournaments are…

February 9, 2021 - Marin Čilić and Petra Martić have been eliminated from the Australian Open after the first round, while Borna Ćorić and Donna Vekić have advanced to the second.  Marin Čilić was quickly eliminated in the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. The finalist of the 2018 Australian Open ended his performance in the first round this year, and was convincingly defeated in three sets by the 18th seed, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov - 6:4, 6:2, 7:6 (5). Marin had only four breaks during the match and used only one in the eighth game of the third set.…

February 9, 2021 - The 20th round of the Croatian First League was held from February 6 to 8, 2021. Osijek tops Hajduk in this round, and Dinamo narrowly defeats Istra to remain in first place thanks to a better goal differential.  Osijek v. Hajduk (2:0) Osijek and Hajduk opened the 20th round at City Garden Stadium on Saturday, February 6, 2021.  While the first half went without goals, a Hajduk red card for Mujakic in the 51st minute significantly changed the game, and Osijek's Kleinheisler scored for 1:0 in the 59th minute. Mierez increased Osijek's lead in the 89th…

February 8, 2021 - Ante Rebic returned to the AC Milan squad after recovering from an injury, and after that from COVID-19. However, it didn't take long for him to become reacquainted with the goal.  Namely, in his first game back, Ante Rebic scored two goals (in just one minute and 9 seconds, may we add) in AC Milan's 4:0 win against Crotone on Sunday. The remaining two goals were scored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored the 500th and 501st goals of his career. Rebic was the highest to jump after the corner in the 69th minute and scored for 3:0.…

February 7, 2021 - Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic have won the 1st edition of the Murray River Open in Melbourne, a new ATP Series 250 tournament leading up to the Australian Open.  Two tournaments together, two titles together In their second joint appearance, Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic have reached their second title (the first was in Antalya in mid-January). Their eighth consecutive victory in 2021 was achieved in the Murray River Open final against the French duo Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin - 7:6 (2), 6:3. Nikola and Mate took the first set with a convincing edition in…

February 6, 2021 - The Croatia and USA water polo teams are currently in Zagreb as the 'Barracudas' prepare for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Rotterdam from February 14 to 21, 2021.  HVS reports that the USA joined Croatia in Zagreb for their Olympic qualifying preparations before the team heads to Rotterdam next week. The USA national team led by Serbian expert Dejan Udovicic will play five training matches with Croatia, while two of them will be official matches. In other words, matches with referees, a scoreboard, and timekeeping. "We couldn't have wished for a better sparring partner at this…

ZAGREB, 6 February, 2021 - Five fans of Dinamo Zagreb Football Club have been given conditional sentences of six months in prison with two years' probation for insulting and inciting to violence against Serb women and children last year, while a sixth defendant was sentenced to community service, Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court ruled on Friday.  The defendants pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for public incitement of hatred and violence. They said in their defence that they had volunteered in Zagreb and the Banovina region after last year's earthquakes, which the court took as a mitigating circumstance. "The court has taken into account the…