Team SA prepared for Canoe Polo World Champs

The South African contingent is all set and ready to play in the 2014 Canoe Polo World Championships from 24 to 28 September in France.

At the pre- Worlds in Belgium, the senior men’s side ending in eighth position overall with the women ending fifth out of eight teams and the under-21 men finishing 12th out of 16 teams.

The senior men’s side is in Group C with hosts France, Denmark, Poland (defending World Champs), Chinese Taipei and Singapore.

The women’s side is drawn to play against runners-up Germany as well as Switzerland, Singapore and Russia for an opportunity to advance in the competition.

2014 will only be the second time that the Under-21 men category will be contested and the Under-23s have been placed in an extremely tough group consisting of Poland, France and Italy.

Coach of the senior men’s and women’s team, Clive Whitton has been pleased with the preparations of both of the sides in the build-up to what should be an exciting World Championships.

“Preparation has gone well, all members of the team are improving well and the structures are starting to fall into place in time for the World Champs,” he said. “I want us to finish in the top 16 which will give us automatic qualification for the next Worlds, but after having a number of players withdrawing from the team I will be happy with a top 20 placing too.”

Both sides have a difficult draw at the tournament with tough teams in their pool but Whitton sees this as an exciting challenge for his players and he believes the hardest test will be adjusting to the high level of the international game.

“I am very excited to pit ourselves against the top teams in the world and be a part of what is expected to be the best World Champs to date, we are an experienced team that has the ability to play a controlled game, which will enable us to be very competitive against the better teams.

“Our biggest challenge, as always is adapting to the high level of play. We only get exposed to this once every two tears and there is always a period of adjustment before we settle down. As long as we can use the pre world tournament to do this we will be able to go into Worlds prepared and ready to prove ourselves.”