Ottawa, July 10, 2024 - The Water Polo Canada Men’s U18 National Team took the 14th position at the 2024 World Aquatics Men’s U18 Championships held July 2-9 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Canadian team started off the tournament with a 20-13 loss against Turkey, followed by four wins, 20-18 against China, 23-13 against Uruguay, 17-16 against Japan and 18-13 against South Africa in the group phase.
In the classification phase and to end the tournament, Canada loss 16-9 against Argentina to take the 14th position overall.
"This group was exceptionally close", said the Water Polo Canada Men’s U18 National Team Head Coach Maxime Crevier. "In terms of team spirit, I couldn't have asked more as a coach. The new format of the World Aquatics Men’s U18 Championships was great for us in many aspects, but we learned the hard way that any mistakes would leave us out of the top 12. I still am very proud of these boys and would like to thank Laszlo (Hruza), Nikolina (Mihajlovik), Richard (Yu) and Evan (Andrews) for their tremendous work and contribution to this team's journey. I think I speak for everyone involved by saying that we wish we could have spent more time together."
"First of all, I would like to thank all my teammates and coaches for our time spent together", said Team Captain Pavle Jelic. "Even though we didn’t achieve our goals at the tournament, we grew with each game that we played as a group. This was an important learning step towards our future goals as water polo players. The regret remains regarding our placement as we wanted the top 12 and ended at 14th. Nevertheless, we will continue improving as players as this team has a lot of potential and we look forward to representing Canada again!"
Held every two years, the World Aquatics Men’s U18 Championships showcased athletes who are 18 years old and younger (i.e. born in 2006 or later).
Evan Andrews also attended the 2024 World Aquatics Men’s U18 Championships as a referee.
More details are available at https://waterpolo.ca/content/world-aquatics-mens-u18-championships1.
Canadian Team at the 2024 World Aquatics Men’s U18 Championships
-BELYAEV, Ilya (Langley, B.C.-Fraser Valley Water Polo Club)
-BRIERLEY, Kai Luke (Westmount, QC-CAMO)
-FALCONER, Tate (Hamilton, ON-Mavericks)
-HEXTER, Austin (Surrey, B.C.-Fraser Valley Water Polo)
-JELIC, Pavle (Toronto, ON-Mavericks)
-JOSEPH, Jason Tyler (Montréal, QC-CAMO)
-KHRAMTSOV, Ivan (Mississauga, ON-Mavericks Water Polo Club)
-MacDONALD PAREDES, Adrien (Longueuil, QC-CAMO)
-MBAYE, Akim (Montréal, QC-CAMO)
-McCORMICK, Sawyer (Calgary, AB-Calgary Torpedoes)
-MIRZOKHIDOV, Abdulaziz (Etobicoke, ON-Mavericks Water Polo)
-PEJOVIC, Marko (Montréal, Lachine borough, QC-CAMO)
-RAJIC, Pavle (Etobicoke, ON-Mavericks)
-VOROS, Nandor (Edmonton, AB-Edmonton Tsunami)
-WEITZ, Lyle (Vancouver, B.C.-Fraser Valley Water Polo Club)
Support Staff:
Head Coach: Maxime Crevier
Assistant Coach: Lazslo Hruza
Team Leader: Nikolina Mihajlovik
Team Therapist: Richard Yu
16U Eastern Finals
Scarborough, ON
Toronto Pan Am Centre
