It meant the world to Indonesian water polo player Rezza Auditya Putra when the Indonesian men’s team ended a match against dominating Singapore in a draw at the 2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

It was indeed a new milestone for Indonesia, as it usually lost encounters with Singapore. Indeed, at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur stint, the red-and-white team only bagged a silver medal, trailing gold medalist Singapore, hence the draw against the Singaporeans boosted Indonesia’s confidence and sparked hope.

Since the first competition of water polo at the 1965 SEA Games, Singapore’s men’s team has been the untouchable champion, collecting 27 consecutive gold medals. Indonesia, however, has worked its way up slowly but surely and now tails the Singaporeans.

At the 30th SEA Games to take place in the Philippines in a few weeks’ time, Singaporean and Indonesian water poloists will be keeping their eyes on each other as both enter the competition with ambitious targets. Singapore is unlikely to content itself with anything less than a 28th gold medal to underscore its formidable reputation, while Indonesia is more than eager to make history by bringing home gold and ending Singapore’s dominance.

Indonesian men’s team coach Milos Sakovic said he was aware of the pressure to dethrone Singapore in the Philippines. However, the Serbian would like to keep his team’s expectations grounded ahead of the Games, given its lack of competing at high-level competitions.

“We are giving our best because we think that this is the moment when everyone expects us to win the first gold medal in the history of the SEA Games,” Sakovic, who has handled the national team since 2017, said recently.

“[But it also] depends on the condition we have. It’s not only about players and the coach but also about how much support we have and how many tournaments we can play before the SEA Games.”

The national team only had two official tournaments so far for the Games: the Panasonic 21st Asia Pacific Water Polo tournament in Hong Kong in August as well as the FINA Water Polo Challengers Cup in Singapore earlier this month.

In Hong Kong, Indonesia finished as a runner-up, while in Singapore, the red-and-white team finished third, trailing winner Singapore and second-placed Austria.

Compared to Singapore, Sakovic said, his team was still behind in terms of preparation for the Games. Singapore started its training camp in January, while Indonesia only did so in July, said the Serbian.

To make up for their tardiness, the national team has been intensifying its practice by having two sessions per day — one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

“[The Singaporeans] also have a bigger budget. For example, they have 50 sparring games and 18 official games this year,” said Sakovic.

“We don’t even have a sparring partner here in Indonesia. In my opinion, two [tournaments are] just not enough.

“But I don’t want to [make] any excuses, because every national team has its problems,” he said, adding that he wanted his team to be stronger than ever to become the champion.

The team experienced its last competitive atmosphere in an invitational tournament in the Philippines from Oct. 26 to 29, before heading for the Games.

Despite less-than-ideal competition experience, Rezza said his team showed progress, which was perfectly reflected at the Singapore event — putting them pretty much on-par with the leading teams of Singapore, Austria and Ireland.

“We feel like our level keeps progressing. Despite the lack of competitions, we still [secured bronze], and that’s a good asset for us ahead of the SEA Games,” he said.

Rezza and his teammate Ridjkie Mulia are two Indonesian players who had the opportunity to compete in Serbia’s water polo premier league, playing for the club VK Beograd. In the first round, both players started the league in January this year and ended their journey in May.

Ridjkie, who was the team goal scorer, however is now back in Serbia, as the team wanted him to play five more matches in the league before he goes back to Jakarta just a short time before Team Indonesia leaves for the Games.

Rezza said the Serbian experience had benefited him in terms of competition experience, as he played up to three times a week. In Jakarta, Rezza has repeated the good routine that he earned in Serbia to boost his performance for the Philippines Games.

"There is still much room for improvement [especially] in our defense. However, physically, we are still not in our best form.

"It would be better for us to have more matches. The more [matches] we play, the more opportunity we have to apply the tactics we learn during practice,” Rezza concluded.

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