Family influence led Hungarian water polo brothers Vince and Vendel Vigvari to sporting heights
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Hungarian Vince Vigvari in their 10-9 loss against Spain in the World Aquatics Championships Group B match on July 16.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
- Vigvari brothers, Vince and Vendel, credit their sporting family for their water polo success and dedication.
- The brothers aim to compete together at the Olympics, pushing each other in a competitive environment to achieve their best.
- Hungary lost to Spain 10-9 after leading and will face Romania in a play-off. Singapore will face China.
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SINGAPORE – For as long as he can remember, sport has been a part of Vince Vigvari’s life.
Coming from a sporting family, the support of their household is what drove the 22-year-old and his brother, Vendel, who is a year older, to excel with the Hungarian men’s national water polo team.
“It all comes from them, because if it weren’t for the whole family, 100 per cent we wouldn’t be here.
“My parents both were active athletes and they kind of decided that we are going to play water polo. And from when I was eight years old, they were supporting us, like crazy.
“The whole family was driving us one hour every day to bring us to practice, and it’s this kind of mentality and support that we received from them that followed us throughout our whole career,” said the 1.88m Vince.
The duo are in Singapore with the Hungarian team vying to reclaim the World Aquatics Championships title which they won at the 2023 edition in Fukuoka, Japan.
The Vigvari brothers have a strong sporting lineage. Their maternal grandparents are Pal Schmitt, a two-time Olympic epee team fencing champion (1968 and 1972) and Hungarian President from 2010 to 2012, and gymnast Katalin Makray, the 1964 Olympic uneven bars silver medallist.
Their mother Greta Schmitt is a former tennis player and dad Csaba Vigvari is a former water polo player.
Vince Vigvari, with his grandparents Pal Schmitt and Katalin Makray (both Olympic medallists), says that family influence was key to their sporting success.
When asked if the brothers had a choice in selecting their sport when they were younger, Vince said: “My parents discussed before they had their first child, and they decided that if it was going to be a girl, then she’s going to play tennis.
“And if it’s going to be a boy, they are going to go to the pool and learn to swim and then move to water polo.
“But obviously we had a choice and we wanted to do it. We admired our parents and our grandparents, and we (knew) we wanted to do sports.”
(From left) Vendel Vigvari, Csaba Vigvari, Greta Schmitt and Vince Vigvari.
Being in the national team with his brother also gave Vince the push to reach greater heights.
“It means (everything to play together)... we are brothers, we grew up together in a super competitive environment, working, competing against each other,” added Vince.
“That’s the other thing that I think helped us to get here to this level… The biggest plan together is to compete at the Olympic Games, and we just aspire to be our best selves and help each other where we can.”
Despite scoring twice, Vince could not help Hungary get a win on July 16 as they faltered late in the 10-9 loss to Spain in their final Group B game.
Vendel, who suffered a stomach bug after their first game win over Australia, is expected to recover in time for Hungary’s play-off against Romania for a quarter-final spot.
Vince admitted they lost to Spain, despite leading 8-5, when they ran out of steam in the final quarter.
“It’s a bit sour in the end, but we will have to deal with it. We played an amazing three quarters... but we didn’t have any energy left in the fourth quarter to make proper decisions and to close the game.”
Spain, who qualified automatically for the quarter-finals, are joined by Italy, who finished top of Group A, Group C winners the United States, and Croatia, the winners of Group D.
Those who finished second and third in their groups advanced to the July 18 round of 16 for spots in the quarter-finals.
Those who ended bottom of their groups enter the classification matches.
Hosts Singapore, who slumped to their biggest defeat of the competition in the 26-6 defeat by the US in Group C, will face China, who finished bottom of Group D, in the 13th-16th classification match on July 18.
Despite their heavy defeats, Singapore coach Kan Aoyagi saw some positives in the Republic men’s maiden world championship run.
He said: “The US is one of the best teams in the world and I told the boys that we have nothing to lose and we must continue to fight. I think they did quite well and feel a bit more confident.
“We are teaching them now what the world standard is like, because previously they couldn’t imagine (the level), because they never played with them before.”
Correction note: In an earlier version of our story, we got the name of the players’ mother wrong. We have since been informed that her name is Greta Schmitt. We are sorry for the error.