Hosts Croatia are guaranteed a gold medal in the men’s water polo competition at the European Universities Games ©European Universities Games

Croatia are guaranteed a gold medal in the men’s water polo competition at the European Universities Games (EUG) after two teams from the host nation came through their semi-final ties today.

The University of Rijeka overcame the Budapest University of Technology and Economics 8-5 before the University of Zagreb narrowly defeated the University of Split 7-6 in an all-Croatian encounter. 

Mislav Vrtić and Demi Cernar scored two each for Rijeka, while Luka Brčić was the hero for Zagreb with the last of his four goals proving to be decisive.

Split recovered from their agonising loss to beat Budapest 9-1 in the bronze medal match.

Water polo is one of several sports on the European Universities Games programme ©European Universities Games
Water polo is one of several sports on the European Universities Games programme ©European Universities Games

In the women’s competition, The Netherlands' Radboud University Nijmegen sealed overall victory today thanks to wins against University of Edinburgh, 11-1, and the University of Rijeka, 6-3.

An additional four points from those two games ensured them top spot in the three-team group with a total of seven.

Rijeka finished second on five points, while Edinburgh came last having failed to register a single point. 

Around 5,000 athletes from 300 universities are competing in the EUG in Rijeka and Zagreb, where action is due to continue tomorrow.