Poland's men's team beat a higher-ranked Great Britain side to take control of Group D as action continued at the 2024 International Canoe Federation Canoe Polo World Championships in Deqing.
The focus shifted towards the senior men’s and women’s matches as they began their journey to seal a spot at The World Games 2025 in Chengdu.
Defending champions and world number one Germany made it two wins from two in the men’s Group A, getting the better of Belgium 5-2 before beating Japan 6-2.
Captain Jonas Vieren, Aren Beckmann, Lennart Unterfeld and Rene Kirchhoff all found the back of the net in both games.
The Poles took pole position in Group D after an easy 5-2 victory over Australia before the tenth-ranked nation upset world number four Great Britain.
A first-half hat-trick from British captain Suryan Mccutcheon suggested it was going to be a routine win until Jan and Juliusz Bulira combined to stage a comeback for the ages and beat them 5-4.
As expected, world number three Italy took on Malaysia and Chinese Taipei in Group C, winning both fixtures 6-1 and 4-0, respectively.
Spain scored eight past Sweden to put their Super Cup woes behind them. Ranked second in the world, they set the pace in Group B, with a 4-1 win over New Zealand.
Denmark, ranked fifth in Group E and sixth-placed France in Group F also won both their games of the day.
France’s second win against seventh-ranked Portugal was impressive. They scored four goals in the first half, including a brace from captain David Linet and delivered a composed defensive performance to come out on top 5-2.
Great Britain women showed their intent and followed the path of their Spanish U21 counterparts from day one, taking the honour for the biggest win of the day.
They scored a whopping 25 goals and conceded 0 against China, including a sensational seven-goal performance from Bethan Littlewood.
Katie Howes and Georgina Longbottom scored three each, Sara Lanao-Madden bagged four and Eleanor Mcbay smashed in five past the hosts.
The Germans, however, humbled the Brits later in the day, scoring eight past them to make up for the Super Cup loss and re-assert their dominance.
The Spanish women’s team continued their winning streak from the Super Cup last week to register a comfortable 11-1 win over Hong Kong. Neith Natalia Leon Martin scored four in the game.
The first group phase of the U21 tournament finished with no big surprises for the day but one.
World number one Spain was handed a reality check by the Danes, who beat them 4-2. Carl-Christian Palmquist Dahl scored to give Denmark the lead in what was an end-to-end game.
Jose Luis Aguilar equalised, but a Viggo Willumsen brace secured the points for Denmark. The win helped them top Group A and qualified along with Spain and Belgium.
Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland are through from Group B, Italy Great Britain and The Netherlands from Group C and France, Poland and Portugal from Group D.
Among U21 women, Germany France and The Netherlands from Group A and New Zealand, Spain and Great Britain from Group B have all secured qualification.
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