Water Polo Canada

EDMONTON, AB (Saturday, March 31, 2012) – Organizers of the Men’s Water Polo Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Edmonton today confirmed that Venezuela has withdrawn from the event.

“There’s no question that it’s an unfortunate development and we’re very disappointed that Venezuela is unable to participate,” said Ahmed El-Awadi, Executive Director of Water Polo Canada. “But the schedule has been revised and we’re ready to move ahead with what we fully expect will be an absolutely fantastic sporting event.”

As a result, the tournament schedule has been revised (www.finaedmonton2012.ca/Results.aspx).

Canada’s first match, which had been scheduled for Sunday, April 1 against Venezuela, has been cancelled. The Canadian squad will now kick off the Olympic qualifier on Monday, April 2 at 7:40 p.m. Mountain Time against Brazil.

The revised groupings are now:

Group A                     Group B
Montenegro                Canada
Germany                    Turkey
Greece                     Spain
Macedonia                Brazil
Romania                     Argentina
Netherlands

The top 4 teams in each group after round robin play will advance to the quarter-finals on Friday, April 6. The winners of those matches will qualify for London 2012.

More information on the Men’s Water Polo Olympic Games Qualification Tournament can be found at the event website: www.finaedmonton2012.ca. There, visitors will find the full schedule, game results, photographs and video. Every match will also be available via webstream on FINA TV (http://livemanager.eurovision.edgesuite.net/fina/site/index.html).

Individuals with tickets for the Canada-Venezuela match will be offered a replacement ticket to any other Team Canada match during the Tournament, while supplies last.