African Canoe Polo Championships – which were held in Windhoek over Easter 14 – 17 April 2017
Laurel and Clive managed to put this short event report together whilst driving back yesterday;
The 2017 African Canoe Polo Championships, held concurrently with the Namibian Open, took Canoe Polo in Africa to new heights in terms of both professional organisation and the standard of competition, and was praised by the visiting ICF Canoe Committee. We are delighted that the South African Women’s team won the African Championships, in the process qualifying for the World Championships 2018 in Canada.
The South African men were not as fortunate, losing in an extremely close final game in a best of three format, having drawn the first two matches.
The U21 men showed huge growth in their games, losing out to a very experienced Namibian U21 men’s team (who have competed together in two previous World Championships) in two and winning one of their their three games.
The U21 ladies team showed tremendous improvement over the weekend, giving the senior ladies a real run for their money in an exciting final game that went to golden goal extra time before the more experienced senior team scored the winning goal. Umzinyathi Canoe Club development paddler Nokukhanya Shange, attending her second African Canoe Polo Championships, said she thoroughly enjoyed the event and learnt a huge amount alongside her team mates from Gauteng and KZN.
For the first time ever, we fielded an U16 boys team, who – while much younger and less experienced than their Namibian counterparts – showed amazing spirit, support and growth over the tournament, coming second of the two U16 teams at the event.
It was fantastic to see the camaraderie, sportsmanship and commitment across the entire squad, and to see the fruits of the broader youth development happening across the country in South African Canoe Polo.
IMPORTANT Canoe Polo Dates to diarise:
20th-21st May 2017: Durban international
For further information please contact Chris de Bree
079 659 5068