New Team Canada captain Bogdan Djerkovic feeling positive after 11th-place finish at men’s water polo worlds

By Keiran Gorsky

International water polo tournaments are never simple skips over the pond, but the 2025 World Aquatic Championships in Singapore and its 12-hour time change was something else entirely for the Canadian men’s water polo team.

“Oh yeah, it’s pretty brutal right now,” an exhausted-sounding Bogdan Djerkovic of Ottawa says of the jet lag on the return trip three days after the tournament concluded on July 25.

Indeed, it often feels as if this team is frequently mired in slumber. They hadn’t been together since November of 2024, when they qualified for the worlds as silver medallists at the Pan American Water Polo Championships in Colombia.

Even after qualifying, recounts Djerkovic, there was a great deal of uncertainty as to whether the team would be able to make the trip. Water Polo Canada couldn’t confirm requisite funding until after the recent federal election.

“It’s not that we were waiting for the money,” Djerkovic explains. “We didn’t know if we were gonna have the money because they weren’t sending the budget.”

Djerkovic and fellow Ottawa Titans product Aleksa Gardijan are both relieved it ultimately worked out. They were two of the four local representatives on the Canadian men’s team alongside Andrej Gavric and David Lapins.

As recently described by Team Canada women’s goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault – who remained back in Canada during the worlds since her team couldn’t attend the qualifier primarily due to budget issues – the World Aquatic Championships are a singular experience, unique in the way athletes are brought together from a diversity of disciplines alongside swimming, artistic swimming and diving.

Read More: ‘It really sucks’: Team Canada water polo goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault on missing first World Championships of her career

Throughout the two-week competition, other Canadian athletes poured into the stands to cheer the water polo team on. It was a rare treat, Gardijan says, for a team that doesn’t usually get the luxury of travelling fans. Djerkovic and others, in turn, came to watch the diving team – which included Ottawa’s Kate Miller – when all their games were over.

There was much for this Canadian squad to be pleased with in their own pond, even as they finished the tournament in 11th place. Djerkovic, who has been involved in the national program since 2017, captained them for the first time at age 24.

“The coach told me, when I’m speaking up in meetings, the guys really listen to me,” recalls the towering 6’7” centre forward.

Djerkovic splits his time between Ottawa and professional club VK Jug in Croatia. Lacking experience as a captain, Djerkovic appreciates that his teammates were always patient with him.

“He was a really good connection between the coaches and us,” Gardijan notes. “I think he did a really really good job.”

One challenge players had to contend with was a set of rule changes that markedly changed the pace of play. Among them, pool sizes were reduced by roughly 10% and two seconds were shaved off the shot clock. Predictably, shot totals and goal-scoring output increased dramatically. The changes, Djerkovic says, garnered something of a mixed reception.

“A lot of coaches and older players are not really supportive of the changes. They think the game should be played more defensively,” Djerkovic explains. “But I think the sport needs to be changed and marketed in a way so that people who don’t know the sport can watch and enjoy it. And I think that comes with goals being scored.”

While formidable teams were, at times, capable of carving through Canada’s overworked defence, the Canadians weren’t wanting for goals of their own. Indeed, for the first time in tournament history, it was a Canadian who led the scoring race. Reuel D’Souza, who Djerkovic went to school with at the University of the Pacific in California, scored an astounding 26 goals on 45 attempts.

In the group stage, Canada won their match against hosts Singapore 22-10, but lost 18-9 to the United States and 19-18 to Brazil in a penalty shootout. The latter match, in which Canada led by five goals in the second quarter, was a particularly frustrating affair. Brazil, perennial rivals at the youth and senior level, had also bested Canada in November.

After losses to Montenegro and Romania, the Canadians were matched up against Brazil in the 11th place game. In that final match, Gardijan was issued a red card for an infraction he still doesn’t understand.

“Completely ridiculous,” he calls his ejection.

But the Canadians didn’t let it get to them. Their defensive structure finally fortified as D’Souza led the way with seven goals. Canada managed to end the tournament on a high note, finally besting Brazil by a score of 16-11.

“We had lots of lows, but also some highs,” Djerkovic said in a Water Polo Canada news release. “I think our team showed what we’re capable of doing at this level, especially in terms of scoring goals. We need to clean up the defence, but I’m still really proud of the guys. I’m proud of how we finished the tournament, how we fought, and how we made defence a priority.”

With the tournament over, a number of players are lining up moves to Europe. D’Souza will reportedly be joining a club in Montenegro, while Gardijan is joining Italian side CC Ortigia. Gardijan believes this will be the key to the team succeeding in the years leading into the next Olympics.

“That’s what we need for our sport to grow bigger in Canada,” he says. “People go abroad so we can play more games and understand how professional water polo is actually played.”

As usual, it’ll be a long time apart. Should funding permit, the men’s team will hope to regroup in the second division of the next FINA Water Polo World Cup in 2026.

Kate Miller reaches synchro diving final

Competing in her first World Aquatics Championships paired with long-time Ontario teammate Katelyn Fung, Ottawa’s Kate Miller reached the final of the women’s 10 m synchronized diving event in Singapore, placing eighth.

“I felt good and I felt confident. I just wanted to dive the best I could,” Miller said via Diving Canada.

The 20-year-old Nepean-Ottawa Diving Club athlete finished fourth in the same event in her Olympic debut last summer at Paris 2024 with Caeli McKay, who elected not to compete this season.

Miller and Fung placed eighth in the preliminary round to qualify for the final and finished in the same spot with a total of 269.34 points. China dominated the final to win with 349.26, while Mexico placed second at 304.80 points and South Korea was third with 293.34.

“Our best dive of the event was our last one. It’s a dive that Katelyn and I do often, so we know we can perform it well,” added Miller, in reference to their two and a half back somersault with one and a half twists in pike position, which earned them 71.04 points.

Fung and Miller began competing together this past spring and earned sixth- and fifth-place finishes at World Cup meets in Mexico and Windsor, ON.

“I’ve really enjoyed the experience of diving with Katelyn,” Miller highlighted. “We’ve been friends since we were very young, and we grew up diving together.”

Fung went on to a breakthrough fourth-place performance in the individual women’s 10 m competition, while Miller did not advance past the preliminaries, placing 27th.

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