The best Canoe Polo teams are ready to fight for top honours as the 2024 International Canoe Federation Canoe Polo World Championships begins in Deqing, China on Tuesday.
Stakes are high as six men’s and women’s teams can also seal a spot at the The World Games 2025 in Chengdu.
Set to run until October 20, a total of 71 teams from 27 countries and all five continents will give it their best to be crowned world champions.
Australia, hosts China, Chinese Taipei, France, Germany, Great Britain, Singapore, New Zealand and Spain will field four teams each in the men’s, women’s, U21 men’s and U21 women’s categories.
Australia are back with a full house having missed out on the previous edition in Saint-Omer.
Denmark, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands and Switzerland are here with three teams each while Belgium, Hong Kong, Iran, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have registered two.
Austria, Czechia, Lithuania, South Africa, Thailand and the United States all have one team hoping to give it their all at the Deqing County International Convention Centre (Fengqi Lake).
Thailand will be making their World Championships debut as the flagship event for Canoe Polo returns to Asia for the first time in 20 years since Japan 2004.
Germany will enter the World Championships as the defending champions among men and women.
The men’s team will be riding high on confidence after a superb display at the ICF Hangzhou Super Cup, where they beat Spain to claim the gold medal.
They are ranked world number one with Spain and Italy second and third, respectively.
The Germany women’s team are also ranked number one in the world, followed by France and Italy. At the recently concluded Super Cup, the Germans won bronze.
The Spanish women, ranked sixth in the world, are in Deqing in good form having beaten Great Britain in Hangzhou.
France, Australia and The Netherlands are historically strong teams with their men’s team winning the most titles – three.
The women’s competition has been dominated by Germany, winning six gold medals, since the first edition in 1994 in Sheffield.
Deqing, that hosted the Canoe Polo Asian Cup in 2019, will also see Spain and New Zealand eyeing to defend the U21 world titles in the men’s and women’s categories respectively.
The tournament was inaugurated on Monday with a spectacular Opening Ceremony, including a parade of the athletes and traditional Chinese dance performances.
Related links
