The Netherlands women’s team started the Canoe Polo tournament at The World Games Chengdu 2025 in superb fashion, winning both of their Group B games on an action-packed day at the Jianyang Cultural and Sports Center.
With 12 games - eight women’s and four men’s - there was plenty of drama in the city of pandas, with the Dutch asserting their dominance.
The Netherlands only had offence on their minds and kept throwing everything at the Danes in their first game.
If not for goalkeeper Danish Lara Robra, the scoreline would have easily reached double figures.
As the Oranje were struggling for precision, the Danes broke the deadlock with their first shot on target, with Emilie Joergensen scoring with ease from the left.
The celebrations were short-lived as Alisha Van Den Berg let one fly from the halfway mark for a belter of an equaliser.
Linda Van As made it 2-1 for the Netherlands with one minute to go in the first half with a clean shot from the right.
The Danes also switched to attack mode in the second half, but all the drama took place with 36 seconds to go.
Anna Thorslund’s shot was too strong down the middle in the dying moments, but Van Den Berg once again stole the show immediately after the restart, with yet another long ranger seven seconds later for a famous 3-2 win.
Their second game against 2024 International Canoe Federation Canoe Polo World Championships silver medallists Italy was more straightforward, as Van As scored all three of their goals in a routine 3-0 victory.
Denmark were involved in another thriller in their second game of the day, as Raquel Calvente equalised for Spain with 22 seconds to go, and the match finished 3-3.
The Italians had a day to forget as Spain inflicted pain in their opener, winning 2-1.
In the first game of the day, reigning world champions New Zealand suffered a heavy blow as a Leonie Wagner brace helped Germany beat them 4-1.
China were on the receiving end of two heavy defeats, losing 15-1 to Iran first, and 23-0 to Germany.
Iran, who surprised one and all at the World Championships last year, could not make it two out of two as New Zealand bounced back for a 3-2 win.
The men’s matches saw France and Spain play out a nine-goal thriller with the former edging 5-4. It took only 50 seconds for the deadlock to be broken thanks to Angel Gordo sending a rocket down the line.
The end-to-end affair saw both teams trying to score, with the French stepping up twice in the last four minutes of the first half.
A swift counterattack saw Florian Pillion score into an unguarded net before Maxime Legendre added one more on the break, after a series of passes.
Soon after the restart, Leo Dehainault showed his class to double the lead for France from the middle, but Spain responded with a carbon copy of a goal thanks to Alex Gordo.
Guillaume Lemarchand, despite being in the thick of things, was too strong as his close-range effort a few minutes later doubled the French advantage again.
Spain simply refused to give up as Alex Casal and Alex Gordo made it 4-4 in a space of two minutes. Casal netted from an acute angle while an unmarked Gordo slotted into an open goal.
As Spain dominated possession towards the end, the French hit back on the counter as Dehainault scored the winner with a minute on the clock.
Germany, defending champions, went down 2-0 to Italy but proved why they are the best with a brace from Tim Riecke and Lenart Unterfeld helping them to a 5-3 win.
In the other two men’s matches, Denmark beat Poland 4-2, and Great Britain saw off China 12-2.
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