Ottawa, June 8, 2023 - Water Polo Canada is announcing today the list of 24 female and 23 male Canadian players who will be centralized at the Institut national du sport du Québec in Montréal over the upcoming year as members of the Canadian Women’s and Men’s Water Polo Teams, respectively, and whose ultimate goal will be to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Fourteen male players and 14 female players will be selected to make up the teams of each gender for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, as well as for the 2024 edition in Doha, Qatar. Both of those competitions will be opportunities to qualify teams for Paris 2024. A total of 13 players on each team will also be selected for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, which will be another opportunity to get a ticket for Paris 2024. If Canada qualifies for the Olympic Games, the men’s and women’s teams will each be comprised of 12 players.
Women’s Canadian Team
Amongst the 24 centralized players on the women’s side, seven have Olympic experience after representing Canada at the Tokyo 2020 Games: Axelle Crevier, Shae Laroche, Elyse Lemay Lavoie, Hayley McKelvey, Kindred Paul, Clara Vulpisi and Emma Wright.
To be one of the 10 teams qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Water Polo Canada Women’s National Team will, over the upcoming year, need to:
1. Reach the final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, to be held July 14-30 in Fukuoka, Japan;
2. Win gold at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, or the silver medal if another country from the Americas reaches the final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships;
3. Finish amongst the top two teams at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, February 2-18, among those that have not already qualified for the Olympic Games.
Men’s Canadian Team
On the men’s side, nine of the 11 players selected at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games will be back for this new quest to qualify for the Olympic Games: Nicolas Constantin-Bicari, Jérémie Côté, Bogdan Djerkovic, Reuel D’Souza, Aleksa Gardijan, Matthew Halajian, Gaelan Patterson, Milan Radenovic and Aria Soleimanipak.
They will aim to qualify Canada for the Olympic tournament for the first time since Beijing 2008.
To be one of the 12 teams qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Water Polo Canada Men’s National Team will, over the upcoming year, need to:
1. Reach the final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, to be held July 14-30 in Fukuoka, Japan;
2. Win gold at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, or the silver medal if another country from the Americas reaches the final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships;
3. Finish amongst the first four teams at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, February 2-18, among those that have not already qualified for the Olympic Games.
Water Polo Canada will announce the final roster for each of these competitions a few weeks prior to the start of the respective events.
The current list of Canadian players that have been invited to be part of the Water Polo Canada Women’s National Team centralization program (please note that this list may change without notice):
BAKOC, Verica (Toronto, ON)
BROWNE, Serena (Pointe-Claire, QC)
CARROLL, Floranne (Montréal, QC)
CREVIER, Axelle (Montréal, QC)
DAVIS, Lucy Lynn (Port Moody, B.C.)
FERGUSON, Ashley (Pointe-Claire, QC)
GAUDREAULT, Jessica (Ottawa, ON)
GUÈVREMONT, Daphné (Montréal, QC)
JAFFE, Rachael (Toronto, ON)
LAROCHE, Shae (Winnipeg, MB)
LAWSON, Emma (Surrey, B.C.)
LEKNESS, Rae (Calgary, AB)
LEMAY LAVOIE, Elyse (Montréal, QC)
LIZOTTE, Myriam (Gatineau, QC)
MCDOWELL, Blaire (Fernie, B.C.)
McKELVEY, Hayley (North Delta, B.C.)
MIMIDES, Maria Eleni (Marilia) (Glyfada, GRE, & Toronto)
ORLOVA, Viktoria (Vancouver, B.C.)
PAUL, Kindred (Spruce Grove, AB)
PETKOV, Alicia (Montréal, QC)
ROBINSON, Cara (Calgary, AB)
VAN DYKE, Adrien (Regina, SK)
VULPISI, Clara (Montréal, QC)
WRIGHT, Emma (Whitby, ON)
More information regarding the female athletes is available on Water Polo Canada’s website at https://waterpolo.ca/content/senior-womens-national-team.
The current list of Canadian players that have been invited to be part of the Water Polo Canada Men’s National Team centralization program (please note that this list may change without notice):
BLANCHARD, Jérémie (Longueuil, QC)
CONSTANTIN-BICARI, Nicolas (Repentigny, QC)
COTE, Jeremie (Pointe-Claire, QC)
DIACENCO, Ion (Montréal, QC)
DJERKOVIC, Bogdan (Ottawa, ON)
D'SOUZA, Reuel (Port Coquitlam, B.C.)
GARDIJAN, Aleksa (Gatineau, QC)
GAVRIC, Andrej (Ottawa, ON)
GERAKOUDIS, Nikos (Montréal, QC)
HACHEM, Leo (Montréal, QC)
HACHEM, Sam (Montréal, QC)
HALAJIAN, Matthew (Montréal, QC)
JOUDRIE, (William) Bryant (Calgary, AB)
LABROSSE, Harrison (Langley, B.C.)
LAPINS, David (Gatineau, QC)
MARUNICA, Bruno (Regina, SK)
MCKNIGHT, Brody (Regina, SK)
O'DONNELL, Jason (Montréal, QC)
OUSSADOU, Ali (Montréal, QC)
PATTERSON, Gaelan (North Vancouver, B.C.)
RADENOVIC, Milan (Montréal, QC)
SOLEIMANIPAK, Aria (Montréal, QC)
TANASIJEVIC, Bor (Toronto, ON)
More information regarding the male athletes is available on Water Polo Canada’s website at https://waterpolo.ca/content/senior-mens-national-team.
