The most important dress rehearsal on the way to the upcoming European Championships to be held 16-29 January at Eindhoven, Netherlands and the Olympic Qualification competitions are held this weekend at Montreal, Canada. Six nations are battling since Tuesday night for this year´s edition of the Canada Cup which is held the Olympic Swimming Pool. The opening day already started with a surprising result when Spain gained a narrow 9-8 victory against the home team.The six-day-event at the centre of Canadian women´s waterpolo has been established as the most important women´s tournament to be contested annually. This year´s competition will be a big dress rehearsal which is supported by the schedule. To get more practice against other top nations, as each team has to play six matches, as the round-robin matches will be followed by a ranking or medal match to be held on Sunday.
Australia and China are in a good position on the way to the Olympic tournament, but Hungary, The Netherlands, Spain and home team Canada are facing big pressure. These four teams can only get an Olympic berth by the tough FINA Olympic Games Tournament to be held in Italy. Only three, perhaps four nations can get a ticket in the last event.
The matches of the opening day started with a little surprise when home team Canada fell to Spain, 8-9. The players from the Iberian Peninsula had lost all big matches against the North Americans and were missing scoring sensation Blanca Gil. Both head coaches, Patrick Oaten and Miguel Angel Oca, were testing some players, including the absence of the Canadian top goalkeeper Rachel Riddell. The winning goal was scored by Spain´s rising star Roser Tarago in the final minute when she scored in a man-up situation.
Canada Cup 2011 – Women´s Six-Nation-Tournament at Montreal, Canada
Schedule and results
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
17:00 Hungary vs. Australia 8-12 (1-2, 5-5, 1-3 1-2)
18:30 Netherlands vs. China 4-7 (3-1, 0-2, 0-3 1-1)
20:00 Canada vs. Spain 8-9 (2-3, 2-3 1-1, 3-2)
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
17:00 Spain vs. Australia
18:30 Netherlands vs. Hungary
20:00 Canada vs. China
Thursday, 15 December 2011
17:00 China vs. Hungary
18:30 Spain vs. Netherlands
20:00 Canada vs. Australia
Friday, 16. December 2011
17:00 China vs. Spain
18:30 Australia vs. Netherlands
20:00 Canada vs. Hungary
Saturday, 17 December 2011
17:00 Australia vs. China
18:30 Hungary vs. Spain
20:00 Canada vs. Netherlands
Sunday, 18 December 2011
10:30 Game for 5th Place
12:00 Game for 3rd place
13:30 Final game