The 29-year-old, left-handed classic won everything at the club level last season with the Italian Pro Recco, and with the national team he won the world championship in Fukuoka, where he was chosen as the best player of the tournament.

Gergő Zalánki was chosen as the best male water polo player of 2023 by the World Aquatics Association (LEN), as well as by the European Water Sports Association (LEN).

According to the organization's report on Thursday, the final order was formed based on the votes of the supporters (30 percent) and LEN members, as well as the technical committee (70 percent).

    The 29-year-old, left-handed classic won everything at the club level last season with the Italian Pro Recco, and with the national team he won the world championship in Fukuoka, where he was chosen as the best player of the tournament.

In a video interview uploaded to the association's Facebook page, the world and European champion Hungarian player said that he was of course happy with the award, as he had the best year of his career last year, but the world championship in Doha in February, at which the team only finished seventh, overshadows the matter. He added that he will work with all his strength to achieve similar successes this year as last year.

Zalánki noted that the most important two months of the season are coming up at the club level, as the Italian Cup final, then the championship final and, expectedly, the final four of the Champions League await the team that is preparing to defend the title on all fronts, which has been operating at a "basic level" until now, but now they are working hard to continue.

Returning to the national team, the Olympic bronze medalist revealed that he still believes that the developed strategy will work, and that he also sees physical fatigue in his Italian teammates - who, unlike him, jumped into the pool at the European Championships and the World Championships in January. He added,

the slap in Doha might have been good for the team, which lacked a little "extra hunger".

This will be the case at the Paris Olympics, and they will be able to fight back for the quarter-final defeat in Doha to the French, whom he hopes will be "torn apart" in the group stage.

Zalánki is the third Hungarian to win the title at LEN, Péter Biros in 2008 and Dénes Varga in 2013. In the women's category, the Italian Roberta Bianconi triumphed for the third time in her career, after 2015 and 2016.

MTI

Cover photo: Gergő Zalánki (Photo: MTI/Tibor Illyés)