1ST LEAD Serbia trounce Croatia in water polo showdown for gold By Albert Otti and Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl, dpa

Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Serbia thrashed water polo rivals Croatia 11-7 in the men‘s final Saturday, winning the country‘s first Olympic gold since the two neighbours split apart during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.Croatia, the winners of the London Games, managed to equalize after Serbia‘s early first goal, but the Serbian world champions retook and expanded the lead up to 11-6 in the fourth quarter.Croatia continued to fight until the end and reduced the debacle to 11-7 with a long-distance shot, less than three minutes before the end of the match.Serbia headed into the Balkan final as the favourites, having won six of the seven major events staged in water polo since the last Olympics four years ago.Serbia also beat Croatia 11-4 in the final of last year‘s world championship.Italy walked away with a bronze medal Saturday after beating Montenegro 12-10.Montenegro held on throughout the bout but lagged behind Italy, who finished the first three quarters always in the lead at 2-1, 5-4 and 9-7."This is the third time in a row we‘ve played for third place. The results have always been the same: lose the semi-final and lose the third-place game," Montenegro coach Vladimir Gojkovic told journalists afterwards. "I feel really sorry for my players."Yugoslavia, which included Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, had been one of the most dominant Olympic water polo teams.