Water Polo Australia today named their Men’s and Women’s teams that will compete at the up coming FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
WATER POLO: Water Polo Australia today named their Men’s and Women’s teams that will compete at the up coming FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
With just over a year to go until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the best teams will battle it out from 14-27 July 2019 in the last major international tournament ahead of the 2020 Olympics.
The Australian Men’s side, the Aussie Sharks, head into the World Champs in good form after a recent bronze medal at the FINA World League Final in Serbia combined with their silver medal at last year’s World Cup.
Dual Olympian Aaron Younger will once again Captain the Sharks and puts his side’s strong form down to years of hard work paying off.
“The team has been working on this for many years now… a lot of the boys have been around for a long time. Things are starting to work and click in the team,” said Younger.
“The team has good of momentum at the moment so hopefully we can use that momentum leading into the World Championships,” he said.
To set the tournament up well the Aussie Sharks will be looking to top their group but will come up against defending World Champions Croatia in the opening match.
“A large part of our tournament will be in the first four games, obviously we’ve got the three group games and then either quarter final or the crossover game. We are looking to hit the ground running from the first game, try and top the group, try and get a win against Croatia and see how we go from there. Definitely looking to be at our peak in that first week,” he said.
Captaining the Women's side is dual Olympian Rowie Webster, who has welcomed two debutants to the experienced Aussie team.
“It’s great for us to have some of the girls making their World Championships debut as they bring a new dynamic to our squad,” said Webster.
“We weren’t satisfied with our fifth place at the World League Final. But in saying that we have also seen great progression in the last few months and we know as a team we're ready to build on that performance.
“There will be nowhere to hide from the outset with our first game against Italy in the pool stages and they are coming off a silver medal at the World League Final. But we’ve done our home work and we know if we can put in our best team performance we will be right in the fight.
“We know this is our last major tournament before the Olympics but as a team we’re really focused on taking it one game, one tournament at a time,” she said.
Follow the Australian teams #roadtoGwangju via social media @WaterpoloAus.
Catch the live stream on www.finatv.live
Aussie Sharks Team
Richard Campbell (NSW) UNSW/Wests
Joel Dennerley (NSW) UNSW/Wests
Blake Edwards (NSW) Drummoyne
Lachlan Edwards (NSW) Drummoyne
Andrew Ford (WA) UNSW/Wests
George Ford (WA) Mataro / UWA
Rhys Howden (QLD) QLD Thunder
Anthony Hrysanthos (NSW) Vouliagmeni / Sydney University
Joe Kayes (NSW) Pro Recco
Nathan Power (NSW) UNSW/Wests / Jadran ST
Tim Putt (WA) UWA / Primorie
Aidan Roach (NSW) Drummoyne
Aaron Younger (C) (WA) Fremantle / FTC
Aussie Stingers Team
Zoe Arancini (WA) Melville
Elle Armit (NSW) Drummoyne Devils
Isobel Bishop (NSW) Sydney Uni
Hannah Buckling (NSW) Sydney Uni
Keesja Gofers (NSW) Sydney Uni
Bronte Halligan (NSW) UCLA
Bronwen Knox (Qld) Qld Thunder
Lena Mihailovic (NSW) Ferencvrosi
Gabriella Palm (Qld) Qld Thunder
Amy Ridge (NSW) UNSW Wests
Maddy Steere (Vic) Michigan
Rowie Webster (C) (Vic) Balmain Tigers
Lea Yanitsas (NSW) UNSW Wests
FINA WORLD CHAMPS SCHEDULE
Sunday 14/07/19 - WOMEN
Australia vs Italy
Time: 20:30 (local), 21:30 (AEST)
Monday 15/07/19 - MEN
Australia vs Croatia
Time: 12:30pm (local), 13:30 (AEST)
Tuesday 16/07/19 – WOMEN
Australia vs China
Time: 16:30 (local), 17:30 (AEST)
Wednesday 17/07/19 - MEN
Australia vs Kazakhstan
Time: 08:30 (local) 09:30 (AEST)
Thursday 18/07/19 – WOMEN
Australia vs Japan
Time: 11:10 (local) 12:10pm (AEST)
Friday 19/07/19 - MEN
Australia vs USA
Time: 19:10 (local), 20:10 (AEST)
Cross-over matches (TBC)
Women – Saturday 20 July 2019
Men – Sunday 21 July 2019
