ICF Canoe Polo Committee activities

ICF Canoe Polo World Championships preparations

The 2024 ICF Canoe Polo World Championships will be held in Deqing, China between October 15 and 20 immediately following the Hangzhou Super Cup at which, due to the nearby World Championships, Canoe Polo is able to field a significant number of teams, all of whom have been selected from the ICF World Ranking.

The venue in Deqing is a city venue with many tall buildings very close and the exposure of the sport to the public, via national television and via the ICF’s Planet Canoe YouTube channel being excellent. All hotels being used for athletes, coaches, officials and even family members are within walking distance of the venue.

The ICF Canoe Polo World Championships is held every even numbered year. This allows for the Continental Championships to be held in the odd numbered year and for these to develop well without excessive costs and travelling on athletes. In these more environmentally-aware times this has and seems to be a very good way forward.

Unlike other disciplines entry is limited to 76 teams, with eight players and two coaches in each, across the four categories of men, women, U21 men and U21 women and is almost exclusively by qualification. A certain number of teams qualify from the previous World Championships so the intensity is always maintained even for non-podium places.

The Continental Championships in the odd numbered year before the World Championships also form part of the qualification. One notable venue in this year’s qualification was the Asian Canoe Polo Championships that took place in Marina Bay, Singapore.

Within the qualification system the ICF also hold a small number of wildcards to ensure continental representation and to allow for some development opportunities.

Wildcard invites were issued on February 1 and at the time of writing there are now 74 teams confirmed with the only two vacant places being in the senior women category. With the World Championships being in Asia for the first time in 20 years this is an excellent response and support to the discipline by the Canoe Polo family.

Event webpage

Hangzhou Super Cup

With entries for the World Championships being sent out in December last year teams have been anxious to learn more about the Super Cup for travel plans etc. With the coordination of the disciplines of Canoe Sprint, Canoe Slalom, Canoe Marathon and Canoe Polo this has taken time but is not an easy process and all is now coming together fast.

The following teams from the ICF Canoe Polo World Ranking will receive formal invites soon and it can be seen there is equality of entry and the prize money, which is significant, will likewise be split evenly, and down to sixth place so all teams really do have a change of success.

2025 World Games in Chengdu, China

Qualification for next year’s World Games is all via this year’s World Championships with the agreed IF passport being the same as the last World Games and enabling eight teams in men and women and the qualification systems is published.

The ICF Canoe Polo Technical Delegate has attended meetings with the International World Games Association and visited the venue which is excellent both for the athletes and for the sport presentation.

The venue comprises a 10-lane 50-metre swimming pool with very large grandstand and up a short set of stairs is another six-lane 50-metre pool for warming up. The available rooms for scoring, officials, referees etc are excellent.

Invites to those teams that qualify from this year’s World Championships will hopefully be handed out at the closing ceremony in Deqing, China.

Qualification system

2025 ICF Canoe Polo Rule Changes

No CR or PR changes were proposed to the ICF Board this year. A small number of Sport Rule changes were proposed, and approved by the ICF Board for commencement January 1 2025, covering topics:

· Abandoning a game and consequences to teams – this will be implemented at this year’s World Championships.

· Behind the line any accredited person can form part of the maximum of three persons e.g. an injured player may still be present.

· Downgrading of non-active referees.

· A Code of Conduct for Commentators.

And perhaps the most significant change but due to the significance for introduction on January 1 2027 and not 2025:

· A two-stage shot clock similar to other balls sports such as basketball and water polo to discourage passive play in the second and subsequent attack phases. The initial clock will remain at 60 seconds but subsequent phases by the same team will have a 30 second limit as already being used in Germany in speed polo.

By Greg Smale, Chair of the ICF Canoe Polo Committee