LONDON, England – One thing is for certain following the official draw for the Water Polo Olympic Qualification tournaments. The Canadian men’s and women’s teams will both face powerhouse nations in the all-important quarter-final matches that will fill the remaining spots for this summer’s Olympic Games in London.

The groupings for the men’s event, to be hosted in Edmonton from April 1 – 8 are:

Group A                                              Group B

Montenegro                                         Canada

Germany                                             Venezuela

Greece                                                Turkey

Macedonia                                           Spain

Romania                                              Brazil

Netherlands                                         Argentina

“I’m very confident in our team and I expect we’ll be well-positioned coming out of the round robin portion of the tournament,” said Men’s Team Head Coach, Dragan Jovanovic, who attended the official draw in London. “But no matter what, our opponent in the quarter-final crossover match will be among the world’s top teams. We’ll be the youngest squad in Edmonton, but there’s no doubt in my mind that we’re capable of qualifying for the Olympics.”

The groupings for the women’s event in Trieste, Italy from April 15 – 22 are:

GROUP A                                            Group B

Italy                                                     Canada

Russia                                                 Greece

Hungary                                                Brazil

Spain                                                   Netherlands

                                                            Kazakhstan

“We measure up well against all of the teams in Group A, so I’m feeling good about our chances to win our quarter-final and earn a berth in the Olympic tournament this summer,” said Pat Oaten, Head Coach of the Canadian Women’s National Team.

Speaking from Los Alamitos, California, Oaten praised the Canadian women who delivered some outstanding performances en route to a second place finish at the Holiday Cup tournament, losing to the host U.S. 11-8 in yesterday’s final.

“The reality is that, among the top 9 or 10 women’s teams in the world, anybody can beat anybody on a given day,” Oaten added. “But we’re peaking at just the right time and I’m confident we’ll be ready to grab one of those four Olympic spots.”

At the last Olympic Summer Games in 2008 in Beijing, China, the Canadian men’s team finished 11^th, while the women did not qualify for the 8-team tournament.

For more information on Canada’s senior national water polo teams, visit www.waterpolo.ca.