Former Neptunes coach Sergey Markoch, who steered the Reds to several honours in recent years, was in Malta on a brief visit over the last weekend with Russian women’s team Uralochka Zlatoust.

The 15-strong squad, under the charge of coach Mikhail Nakoriakov, were at the National Pool, Tal-Qroqq, last Sunday to watch the match between San Ġiljan and Sliema which the Blues won 7-6 to force a decider for the winter title.

Thanks to his vast experience, Markoch has now been appointed as head coach of the Russian U-19 national teams and will thus oversee their training programmes and international commitments, the first of which will be in the European Championship, in The Netherlands, in September.

Uralochka Zlatoust won their country’s championship five times and have been in the LEN finals four times. They are currently considered as one of the top sides in Russia, having four of their players in the national team.