Canada places 8th at men’s water polo Olympic qualifier after 5th straight loss

By Lombardia Salute On Feb 21, 2021

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In the end, an attempt at a small victory became challenging for Canada’s men’s water polo team.

The young squad, hoping to avenge a loss five days ago to a Georgia side that hurt its chances of securing a Tokyo Olympic berth, dropped a 18-10 decision on Sunday — its fifth in a row after a tourney-opening win over Brazil — and finished eighth at the 11-team qualifier in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Reuel D’Souza, who was cleared for the tournament after contracting coronavirus while playing professionally in France, led the Canada attack with five goals. Bogdan Djerkovic with two, Jeremie Cote, Mark Spooner and Gaelen Patterson also scored.

The Canadians have now missed qualifying for the past three Summer Games following an 11th-place performance at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Georgia, which beat Canada 14-11 on Tuesday, held quarter leads of 4-2, 12-5 and 15-7 on Sunday and ended the tourney seventh.

With Canada trailing 4-2, D’Souza shone in the second quarter with three goals, but it mattered little as Georgia put eight on the board in eight minutes before halftime.

Sixth-ranked Montenegro won the tournament with a 10-9 victory over No. 8 Greece in Sunday’s gold-medal match. Both clubs, which beat Canada in the preliminary round, secured Olympic spots with semifinal wins on Saturday.

World No. 2 Croatia grabbed the third and final Olympic berth with a 25-24 win over No. 15 Russia on Sunday.

www.cbc.ca 2021-02-21 16:56:15