U21 WOMEN

Germany notched up an important win against France and New Zealand further consolidated its favoritism for the gold medal in the women’s U21 competition at the ICF Canoe Polo World Championships in St-Omer, France, on Thursday.

New Zealand defeated both France and Germany on the opening two days of competition and then put 10 goals past Netherlands on Thursday to further consolidate their hold on the top position in the group.

The fight for second place was on the line in the battle between home team France, and five-time U21 title holders Germany. After going behind early, the Germans rallied to shut France and its big crowd of supporters out of the game, eventually winning 4-1.

German captain Hannah Kunz said it was a perfect response by her team after the disappointing loss to New Zealand 24 hours earlier.

I think we were a little angry about that, but we wanted to win this game even more. We are feeling really confident,” Kunz said.

I think we were getting a little nervous today because of the crowd because they were so loud.

But we used our chances, I’m really happy with my team. It was important to win against France, because they know now that we are a good team. But we know also that they are a good team.”

The battle for the all-important fourth place in the group remains wide open. Great Britain currently sits in the final semi-final spot after beating Poland 3-2, but Spain, Netherlands and Italy are all just one win away from leapfrogging the British team.

Great Britain captain Jessica Webb said her team still has a lot of work to do.

In the past few years we’ve struggled against Poland, and so with this team it’s great to finally have a win,” she said.

I’m so proud of the girls, they’ve come so far. We’ve just got to see what we can do in the next couple of days, but it’s exciting stuff. Onwards and upwards.”

All teams have two matches to play.

Pics by Balint Vekassy