SINGAPORE – They may be the undisputed kings of the sport in South-East Asia – winning the SEA Games gold a record 26 consecutive times – but the national men’s waterpolo team has struggled to make an impact outside of the region.

Their results at the Asian level have been forgettable, as the waterpolo players have not won a medal at the Asian Games in over 30 years. Their last podium finish came at the 1986 edition of the tournament in South Korea where they secured a bronze medal.

Singapore finished fifth in the previous edition of the Games, which saw Kazakhstan, Japan and China claim the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.

However, Singapore Swimming Association’s (SSA) vice-president for water polo Samson Tan believes that the Republic’s long medal drought will come to an end next year.

The 49-year-old pointed to the “significant improvements” that the national team has made under Serbian coach Dejan Milakovic as the main reason for his confidence.

Milakovic, who joined the association in March this year, had previously coached the youth and B teams of Serbia. The Serbians are regarded as a world powerhouse in the sport, with its men’s team winning all five major international titles last year including the World Championship, World Cup and Olympics.

Mr Tan believes that having Serbian Milakovic in their camp has greatly benefitted the Singapore waterpolo side.

“When I came in, I felt that we needed to get a foreign coach in to bring the sport to the next level, and that’s why we brought in Dejan in March,” said Mr Tan, who was voted into his position at last year’s elections.

“It is clear that he (Milakovic) has done a tremendous job over the past few months. The way we train and play is very different now, and a lot of the senior players agree that the improvements have been significant.

“We used to be very vulnerable defensively, which cost us many games. Dejan addressed this issue when he came in and drew up training programmes to help the players greatly strengthen their leg muscles, which is important in both defending and shooting.”

Mr Tan’s words are backed up by the national team’s recent results. Last month, they finished third in the Singapore Water Polo Challenge Cup (SWPCC) after notching an impressive victory over the University of New South Wales (UNSW) West Magpies team – the top-ranked club side in Australia.

The other two teams in the tournament, the Iranian national team and Serbia’s Under-20 side, were also only able to beat Singapore by a one-goal margin.

Encouraged by the improvements shown by the national team, Mr Tan has backed them for a podium finish at next year’s Asian Games in Indonesia.

“Last year at the Asian Championships, when we played Iran, we lost by four goals, but recently at the SWPCC, we just lost to them by a single goal and even had chances to beat them,” said the former national waterpolo player. “The difference between these two matches was just six months, so you can tell how much they’ve improved in such a short time.

“The boys are still adapting to the new tactical and technical systems being implemented by Dejan, and they’ll need more match experience to learn how to apply them properly. So the priority now is to get the team to play more games and to spar with quality opponents.

“But I’m heartened when I look at the momentum generated by the men’s team so far… if they can continue this way, by next year’s Asian Games, I’m sure that we’ll achieve at least a podium finish.”

With two of Singapore’s Asian Games rivals, Kazakhstan and China, currently undergoing a transitional phase as they rebuild their teams, Team Singapore’s medal chances could be given a timely boost. Mr Tan urged his players to capitalise on this opportunity to secure the medal.

“If you look at the Asian powerhouses China and Kazakhstan, they’re undergoing a transitional period at the moment with the reshuffling of their players,” he said. “Of course, Japan are still the strongest at the moment because they’re preparing for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

“But we can definitely challenge the Chinese and Kazakhstan team, who didn’t look that strong at the previous Games anyway. So the time seems ripe for us to end this medal drought, and I hope the players grab this golden opportunity to do it.”