Singapore To Host Asian Water Polo Championships In March

Courtesy: Singapore Swimming Affiliation

[SINGAPORE] A few of Asia’s high water polo groups will converge in Singapore for the Asian Water Polo Championships from March 22-27.

Asian powerhouses Kazakhstan and China will be a part of high Southeast Asian nations like Singapore and Thailand within the event that can function the qualifying occasion for the Might 1-7 World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup, Division 2 Qualifier in Berlin.

A complete of 12 groups (eight males and 4 girls) will participate within the Singapore occasion, to be held on the OCBC Aquatic Centre on the Singapore Sports activities Hub. The highest 4 males’s groups and the highest 4 girls’s groups will earn tickets to Berlin.

Mentioned Mr. Taha Al Kishry, Asia Swimming Federation (AASF) Secretary-Basic: “We’re excited to carry this occasion to Singapore for the primary time. With the Asian Video games set to happen later this 12 months, 2023 shall be an thrilling 12 months for water polo and followers can count on to see some nice motion on the OCBC Aquatic Centre.

“Now we have a stellar line-up of groups and with slots on the World Cup up for grabs, competitors shall be very eager in Singapore.”

Mentioned Mr Dominic Soh, Singapore Swimming Affiliation Vice-President (Water-Polo): “The Asian Water Polo Championships is just second to the Asian Video games in the case of essentially the most prestigious water polo occasion in our a part of the world.

“Singapore is honoured to be given the chance to host an occasion of such stature. With the latest announcement that the 2025 World Aquatics Championships shall be held in Singapore, we’re looking out for competitions that won’t solely take a look at our athletes towards high opposition, but in addition enable us to achieve extra expertise in internet hosting huge occasions.”

Hosts Singapore will participate in each the boys’s and ladies’s competitors, with the occasion serving as a superb alternative for the Republic to pit themselves towards extra established water polo nations.

The boys’s nationwide staff comes into the occasion having received the 2022 Inter Nations Cup, a event pitting the very best water polo groups in South-east Asia. In addition they completed sixth ultimately 12 months’s Asian Water Polo Championships. On the similar occasion, the ladies’s staff completed fifth within the girls’s competitors.

Mentioned nationwide head coach Kan Aoyagi: “It is going to be a superb take a look at of how far we’ve come and the way a lot we’ve to enhance if we wish to be one of many high water polo nations in Asia.

“Now we have set a aim of successful a medal on the 2030 Asian Video games and occasions like this on dwelling soil shall be a superb alternative for our groups to indicate the house crowd what they’re able to.”

Within the girls’s occasion, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Uzbekistan will play one another in a double round-robin format.

Within the males’s occasion, Singapore have been drawn with Uzbekistan, Thailand and China in Group A. Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Iran and the Philippines make up Group B.

The draw throws up some attention-grabbing match-ups.

China-Uzbekistan shall be Group A’s most highly-anticipated match. Whereas in Group B, favourites Kazakhstan will face their stiffest competitors in Iran.

Forward of the Cambodia SEA Video games in Might, the event may even throw up a preview of the attainable gold medal match-ups in each the boys’s and ladies’s water polo occasions.

The Singapore girls will tackle their Thai counterparts twice within the double round-robin format and can hope to avenge a 13-9 loss to the Thais ultimately 12 months’s Asian Water Polo Championships.

Within the males’s occasion, it’s the Thais who shall be in search of redemption after Singapore beat them 12-9 on dwelling soil on the 2022 championships. The end result noticed Singapore end the event in sixth place, one forward of the Thais.

Tickets for the occasion vary from $10 to $20. A bundle of 4 matches for the day goes at a reduced value of $30 per individual. Tickets might be bought at https://www.sistic.com.sg/occasions/waterpolo0323.