Canadian women’s water polo team drops match to Olympic-spot rivals at worlds
Canada’s quest for Olympic qualification in women’s water polo hit a speedbump on Thursday, losing a chance to advance directly to the quarterfinals at the World Aquatics Championships.
Claudia Marletta scored four goals to lead Italy to a 12-8 win over Canada on Thursday in Doha.
Roberta Bianconi and Chiara Tabani each added three goals apiece for the undefeated Italian team (3-0) who wrapped up top spot in Group D and will advance straight to the quarters.
Emma Wright and Verica Bakoc each had a pair of goals for Canada (2-1) who will now need to play a one-game playoff game to ensure their spot in the quarterfinals.
Two Olympic spots are up for grabs in Doha as half of the 16 women’s teams competing have already locked up their berths for Paris, so Canada needs to be one of the top two finishers of those yet to qualify to book their Olympic ticket.
Going by world rankings and recent results, it’ll be a three-way battle for those two spots between Canada, Italy, and Hungary.
CBC Sports will live stream action from the World Aquatics Championships on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app, and on CBCSports.ca. Click here for the full broadcast schedule from Doha.
Canada roster
- Verica Bakoc — Toronto
- Serena Browne — Pointe-Claire, Que.
- Floranne Carroll — Montreal
- Axelle Crevier — Montréal
- Jessica Gaudreault — Ottawa
- Daphné Guèvremont — Montreal
- Shae La Roche — Winnipeg
- Rae Lekness — Calgary
- Elyse Lemay-Lavoie — Calgary
- Blaire McDowell — Fernie, B.C.
- Maria Eleni Mimides — Glyfada, GRE, & Toronto
- Hayley McKelvey — North Delta, B.C.
- Kindred Paul — Spruce Grove, Alta.
- Clara Vulpisi — Montreal
- Emma Wright — Whitby, Ont.
- Lucy Davis (alternate) — Port Moody, B.C.
Simoneau, Lamothe 5th in duet free final
Canadian artistic swimmers Jacqueline Simoneau, of Saint-Laurent, Que., and Montreal’s Audrey Lamothe finished off the podium in the women’s duet free final on Thursday.
Simoneau and Lamothe scored 239.0563 points, which was 11.7166 behind the gold-medal winning twins Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi of China.
Dutch twins Bregje and Noortje de Brouwer (250.4979) took the silver medal while Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe of Great Britain (247.2626) rounded out the podium in bronze-medal position.
The Canadian duo finished seventh in the women’s duet technical routine on Monday.
Simoneau scored a women’s solo free gold medal on Tuesday and women’s solo technical silver medal on Saturday.