Canada falls 14-11 to Georgia at men’s water polo Olympic qualifier

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Reuel D’Souza had five goals in a losing cause as Canada fell 14-11 to Georgia on Tuesday at a men’s water polo Olympic qualification tournament.

Gaelan Patterson had two goals for Canada (1-2), while captain Nicolas Constantin-Bacari, Jeremie Cote, Sean Spooner and Aleksa Gardijan also scored.

Marko Jelaca had four goals for Georgia, which improved to 1-1. Marko Elez, Fabio Baraldi and Boris Vapenski had two goals each, while Khvicha Jakhaia, Revaz Imnaishvili, Andria Bitadze and Nika Shushiashvili also scored.

In Tuesday’s other Group A match, Montenegro (2-0) moved into a tie for the group lead with idle Greece with a 15-5 win over Brazil (0-2).

Georgia is third in the group, followed by Canada and Brazil. Turkey, which was also in Group A, was disqualified after a COVID-19 outbreak on the team.

The top four teams in each of the two groups progress to the quarterfinals, and the top three teams qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

Canada will next face Greece on Thursday. Competition continues through Sunday.

The Canadian men have made four Olympic appearances, most recently in 2008 in Beijing where they finished 11th.

The Canadian women’s water polo team has already qualified for Tokyo.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2021.

The Canadian Press