WATER POLO: Water Polo Australia (WPA) have lost their bid to have former New Zealander Joe Kayes cleared to represent his new country in time for next week’s FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia.

Kayes became an Australian citizen in June and WPA lodged the required paperwork for his clearance with the sport’s governing body FINA, but that request was rejected on the grounds Kayes had not met the change of sport nationality eligibility rules.

WPA disagreed with the interpretation FINA relied upon for their judgement and believed Kayes has met the eligibility rules, subsequently appealed the original ruling to the FINA Bureau. That appeal was also dismissed, leaving Kayes out of the year’s major tournament, just a year from the Rio Olympic Games.

WPA will now consider an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

With Kayes now ineligible the Aussie Sharks team for the FINA World Championships has been finalised:

GK’s: Joel Dennerley (NSW), James Stanton-French (VIC)
Field Players: Richie Campbell (NSW), Nathan Power (NSW), George Ford (WA), Joel Swift (WA), Tyler Martin (NSW), Rhys Howden (QLD), Jarrod Gilchrist (NSW), Mitch Emery (NSW), Johnno Cotterill (NSW), Aidan Roach (NSW), Aaron Younger (WA)

Water Polo Australia