Serbia wins first men's water polo gold

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - No more Olympic pressure for Serbia. Just the sweet relief of gold.

Dusan Mandic scored four times, Branislav Mitrovic made 12 saves and Serbia dethroned Croatia with an 11-7 victory in the men's water polo final at the Rio Games on Saturday.

Serbia was the favorite coming into the Rio Games, increasing the pressure on the players to bring home the country's first Olympic title in perhaps its favorite sport. The former Yugoslavia won three gold medals and Serbia and Montenegro lost in the 2004 final in Athens, but Serbia finished third in each of the previous two Olympics.

No settling for bronze this time around. After opening with two draws and a loss to Brazil, Serbia closed with five straight victories.

There were hugs on Serbia's side of the pool as the final seconds ticked off, and the players jumped right in when it was over.

Coach Dejan Savic avoided the traditional swim with his team, even sneaking off the deck for a moment before returning to the bench to watch the celebration. He wagged his finger and blew kisses to his players as they beckoned him to join them in the water.

Sandro Sukno scored three times for Croatia, which won gold in London. Javier Garcia Gadea had two goals.

Italy beat Montenegro 12-10 for the bronze medal. Stefano Tempesti led the way with 10 saves, and Christian Presciutti scored four times.

It's the second straight Olympic medal for Italy, which lost to Croatia in the London final. Italy also became the only country to medal in each water polo tournament in Brazil, with the women taking home silver on Friday.

"It's a great moment for (the) Italian water polo team," Tempesti said.

The 37-year-old Tempesti had surgery on his right eye after he got hurt in the final match of the Italian championship in May. He finished with 51 saves in his fifth Olympics.

Asked if the victory over Montenegro was his final game, he responded: "I think so. I'm quite sure, yeah."

"To be here with my eye, all the surgery, everything, day by day I had to learn how to come back in this Olympics," Tempesti said, "and winning this medal, it's the right reward, the best reward for what I have gone through in the last few months."

Valentino Gallo added three goals for Italy, which lost to Serbia in the semifinals.

Montenegro finished fourth for the third straight Olympics.

"We must make some changes, put some new players (on the team), but in this moment we don't have a lot of good young players," Montenegro coach Vladimir Gojkovic said. "If we did they would be here now."

___

Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap