Ottawa, November 26, 2024 – Water Polo Canada Men’s National Team won the silver medal at the 2024 Pan American Water Polo Championship held November 20-25, in Ibague, Colombia.
The Canadian Team started the tournament with a 12-11 (5-4) win in a shootout against Argentina, followed by victories of 26-3 against Panama and 29-3 against Venezuela. Team Canada then registered a 8-5 loss against Brazil before bouncing back with a 30-3 win against Mexico.
In their last game of the round robin tournament, Canada beat Columbia 14-9 to win the silver medal, thereby securing a spot for Canada in the men’s tournament for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.
Canadian Milan Radenovic was named goalie of the tournament.
“I’m very proud of this team”, said Team Captain Jérémie Blanchard. “We came to Colombia with a new and young team. It was not going to be an easy task, but we managed to perform and stay focused until the very last game of the tournament (…). The future is bright for this group!”
“This performance is encouraging and strongly supports WPC’s planned trajectory and objectives of the next few years for our Men’s National Team program,” said Water Polo Canada’s High Performance Director Olivier Pineau.
“I’m extremely proud of this team”, added Water Polo Canada Men’s National Team Head Coach Pat Oaten. “The group was a mix of veterans and young new players who came together and achieved what we came to Colombia to do. The result was a true team effort, and I cannot stress enough how professional and focused they were throughout the entire tournament. It’s now time to rest and to focus on our next challenge.”
Evan Andrews and Lyle Brooks also attended the 2024 Pan American Water Polo Championships as referees.
Canadian Team at the 2024 Pan American Water Polo Championship
BLANCHARD, Jérémie (Longueuil, QC) – Club de waterpolo Saint-Lambert
DIACENCO, Ion (Montréal, QC) – CAMO
DJERKOVIC, Bogdan (Ottawa, ON) – Ottawa Titans
GARDIJAN, Aleksa (Gatineau, QC) – Club de water-polo de Gatineau
GERAKOUDIS, Nikolas (Montréal, QC) – WPC
HACHEM, Leo (Montréal, QC) – CAMO
LAPINS, David (Gatineau, QC) – Ottawa Titans
McKNIGHT, Brody (Regina, SK) – Team Sask
OUSSADOU, Ali (Montréal, QC) – CAMO
OVIEDO-LADIK, Adriel (Montréal, QC) – CAMO
RADENOVIC, Milan (Montréal, QC.) – Mavericks
SOLEIMANIPAK, Aria (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC) – Laval
TANASIJEVIC, Bor (Toronto, ON) – CAMO
TAYLOR, Jackson (Ottawa, ON) – Ottawa Titans
Coaches
Pat Oaten (Pointe-Claire, QC) – Head Coach
Gyula Toth (Calgary, AB) – Assistant Coach
Support Staff
Mitch Kaufman (Kitchener, ON) – Team Leader
Sunny Marshall (Toronto, ON) – Athletic Therapist
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