WATER POLO: On the back to a series white wash against China, Australia has announced its team to take on the FINA Women’s Water Polo World League tournament in USA from 16-21 February.
With the teams from Brazil, China, Canada, Japan and USA all taking part, Australian Coach Greg McFadden said the tournament will be an important international test leading into the Rio Olympic Games.
“We don’t get many international games so this will be a significant one for us as part of our Rio preparation.
“The USA and Canada are yet to qualify for Rio and have their Olympic qualification tournament coming up, so you can bet they will be coming out strong,” said McFadden.
Australia along with Brazil, China and Hungary, have all qualified their spots for the Rio Olympic Games. The last international tournament in November last year, the Aussie Stingers took gold over the top ranked USA side at the Rio test event.
But London bronze medallist Ashleigh Southern admitted they will need to dig deep when they face the USA again, coming up against them in last round.
“We would hope we’re ranked in the top two by the time we play the USA, which means there is a chance we’ll play them two days in a row. It will be a tough but if we can get the wins over the USA, it will certainly show the other countries we are ready for this year,” said Southern.
Speaking from Perth where the Stingers just wrapped up their training camp and test matches against China, Southern said there is certainly an energy among the team now that 2016 has arrived.
“The first day of camp there was a buzz, you can tell it’s an Olympic year. We were happy with how the camp and test games went, our attention is on building every day and with each game.
“Personally I have really focused on my fitness a lot over Christmas which has given me more confidence to take risks,” she said.
A notable absence from the team (listed below) will be Stingers Captain Bronwen Knox, who returns to the National Water Polo League this Friday after being sidelined with a collar-bone injury. Knox was recently in camp with the Stingers in Perth, but will remain in Australia to maximise her recovery.
Name State
Zoe Arancini WA
Gemma Beadsworth WA
Isobel Bishop NSW
Hannah Buckling NSW
Keesja Gofers NSW
Bronte Halligan NSW
Holly Lincoln Smith NSW
Glencora McGhie WA
Ashleigh Southern QLD
Kelsey Wakefield QLD
Rowena Webster VIC
Lea Yanitsas NSW
Nicola Zagame NSW
(Note: all times are in local tournament times)
Date Games
Tuesday, Feb 16 16:40 AUS-CHN
Wednesday, Feb 17 16:40 CAN-AUS
Thursday, Feb 18 19:20 AUS-BRA
Friday, Feb 19 18:00 JPN-AUS
Saturday, Feb 20 9:20 AUS-USA
Sunday, Feb 21 Medal rounds
Water polo Australia
