updated 12:03 p.m. ET Aug. 28, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - Hungary broke a 24-year gold-medal drought in water polo four years ago, but that hasn’t relieved the pressure on its team headed into Sunday’s Olympic final against Serbia-Montenegro.

The Hungarians were once the dominant power in water polo — winning six golds, a silver and a bronze between 1932 and 1976 — and players like Tamas Kasas want to go back to the glory days.

“Pressure? There is always pressure. Yes, it was a long wait until Sydney. But the public expects the gold every time,” Kasas said. “We all know that.”

Kasas was voted the world’s top player after the Sydney Games. He’s got some competition for that title now from Aleksandar Sapic, the barrel-chested shooter of the Serbian team who leads the Athens tournament with 16 goals.

The strength of the Serbian team is its defense, which can trouble the Hungarian shooters.

But Hungary has a more potent attack, led by the rangy Kasas and boasting a trio of left-handed shooters — a rarity in this sport.

Hungary was 5-0 in preliminaries, including wins over Serbia-Montenegro and Russia. Kasas scored three times in Hungary’s 7-5 semifinal win over Russia, a rematch of the Sydney 2000 final.

“We’re just one step away, but it’s a very big step,” Kasas said.

The Serbians beat Greece 7-3 in the other semifinal and are undefeated since the tournament opener against Hungary.

The Russians will play Greece for the bronze.

The Serbians, then playing as Yugoslavia, were the last team to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals. Current U.S. head coach Ratko Rudic guided Yugoslavia to consecutive titles in 1984 and ’88.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment, for this final against Hungary, for a long time,” said Serbia-Montenegro’s Victor Jelenic, who scored twice against Greece. “We’ll see who is the best.”

In other classification matches, Spain and Germany play for fifth and the United States takes on Italy for seventh.

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