Water Polo Canada – (Montreal, QC, January 9, 2019) – Water Polo Canada has announced the 14 players that will travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the upcoming UANA Cup January 21st to 27th, 2019. The UANA Water Polo Cup serves as qualification for the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. The top two teams from the men’s and women’s category will earn their spot for the 2019 World Championships.

This competition marks the return with the national team of two prominent Canadian players, Justin Boyd and Devon Diggle. The 2008 Olympians will join Canada’s ranks for the first time since 2016 and 2013 respectively. The two West Islanders combine many years of international experience, and along with the other veteran players, they will bring valuable leadership to this promising Canadian squad. The men’s national team will start its preparation for the UANA Cup with a four-day training camp with the US National Team in California from January 15^th to 19^th, 2019.

“The guys have been training very hard in Montreal, and I’m satisfied with their current level of play. The athletes playing in Europe had the opportunity to play a lot of games, and their experience will certainly help us reach our goal. There will be an adjustment period during the pre-competition training camp in Los Angeles where we will assess the level of the team before the tournament. We will focus on getting the athletes mentally and physically ready for the competition. The UANA Cup will be a competitive tournament, with most teams having a chance at qualification for the 2019 World Championships in South Korea.” indicated Head Coach Giuseppe Porzio.

Canada will start its tournament against Brazil, January 22nd at 6:30 pm (local time). Here is the selection for the 2019 UANA Cup:

Men’s National Team

 

Name	Hometown
Dusan Aleksic	Gatineau, QC
Justin Boyd	Beaconsfield, QC
Nicolas Constantin-Bicari	Montreal, QC
Jérémie Côté	Montreal, QC
Reuel D’Souza	Port Coquitlam, BC
Devon Diggle	Pierrefonds, QC
Bogdan Djerkovic	Ottawa, ON
Aleksa Gardijan	Gatineau, QC
David Lapins	Gatineau, QC
Gaelan Patterson	North Vancouver, BC
Milan Radenovic	Toronto, ON
Sean Spooner	Port Coquitlam, BC
Devon Thumwood	Calgary, AB
George Torakis	Montreal, QC

 

 

 

 

 

 

Men’s National Team – Staff

 

• Head Coach: Giuseppe “Pino” Porzio

 

• Assistant Coach: Brian Parillo

 

• Assistant Coach/Video Analyst: Francesco Rizzo

• High Performance Director/Team Leader: Justin Oliveira

• Physiotherapist: Felix Croteau

• Referee: Doriel Terpenka

Schedule

January 22: Brazil vs Canada – 6:30 PM Local / 3:30 PM EST

January 23: Canada vs Argentina – 5:15 PM Local / 2:15 PM EST

January 24: Canada vs USA – 5:15 PM Local / 2:15 PM EST

January 25: Semi-finals – (M7) 2^nd vs 3^rd 5:15 PM Local / (M8) 1^st vs 4^th 6:30 PM Local

January 26: Final 2:30 PM Local / 11:30 AM EST

–30 –

MEDIA

Mylène Turcotte-Fitzgerald,

Water Polo Canada Communications

(613) 748-5682 x 325/ (819) 639-6414

 mfitzgerald@waterpolo.ca