Canadian women's water polo team qualifies for Paris Games after South Africa forfeit

Canadian women’s water polo team qualifies for Paris Games after South Africa forfeit

DOHA, Qatar — The Canadian women’s water polo team qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics after South Africa forfeited its allocated spot.

Water Polo Canada made the announcement Friday after Canada was seemingly denied qualification for the Games following an 18-12 loss to Italy at the world aquatics championships.

The loss relegated Canada to eighth in the competition while Italy picked up the final of two qualification spots available at the tournament.

South Africa, which finished 14th out of 16 teams in Doha, announced at the end of the competition that they will not use their allocated spot.

South Africa was qualified for Paris as the top ranked — and only — country from the Africa to participate at worlds. World Aquatics’ water polo qualification procedure states any unused quota places will be reallocated to the next highest placed country at the world championships.

“Today was a rollercoaster with ups and downs, for sure,” said Canada captain Emma Wright. “Against Italy, it was definitively a disappointing game. But I think once the dust settles, obviously it’s really big that we got that spot at the Olympics.

“We know that we have a lot to do after this tournament. I think we’re just going to keep pushing forward and do better at the Olympics.”

It will be Canada’s fourth appearance in the Olympic women’s water polo event. The Canadians finished seventh at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

In Friday’s match, the Italians got off to a fast start by taking a 4-1 lead and build from there, winning every quarter.

Italy’s Roberta Bianconi topped all scorers with five goals. Verica Bakoc led Canada with four.

“It’s not really the result we wanted to have today, but the objective was still achieved in the sense that we officially qualified for the Olympic Games,” said Canada’s Axelle Crevier. “I think that now, it will be a way of reflecting, of growing into all of this, to have a better performance in Paris. We’re still happy and we finished in the top eight in the world, so in a sense, we deserve to be there.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press