Canadian water polo team fine tuning for Tokyo ahead of World League Super Final

Canadian water polo star Monika Eggens has been waiting 500 days for this — a chance to finally play an official competition again.

With the Tokyo Olympics just over a month away, the timing for the upcoming World League Super Final in Athens, Greece, couldn't have come at a better time.

"I'm really excited to just enjoy the moment and play those games because it's been so long out of that competition zone," said the 30-year-old from Pitt Meadows, B.C., of the exclusive eight-team tournament, which starts Monday.

"During Covid there were so many times where I was like 'I just want to play a game.' It's crazy that it's next week."

Canada is slotted in Group A with Olympic bronze medallists Russia, Olympic hosts Japan, and Hungary, who finished fourth at the last Olympics and world championships. The other pool sees world No. 1 and Olympic champions the United States, world champion silver medallists Spain, Kazakhstan and hosts Greece. Each team will play three group games, followed by a crossover quarter-final, semifinals and final.

"Our goal is consistency in all our games," said Canadian head coach David Paradelo in an interview from the team's latest training base in Ostia, Italy.

"We know that we can be competitive with any team over there … We have to set the scene for the Olympics and show where we stand. We're set up as the underdogs in the competition, so it's important to create that doubt in all the teams' minds and also the refereeing body that we're up there with all the teams."

The team has undergone some changes in personnel over the last year with the retirement of legendary centre Krystina Alogbo. Other players have stepped in to play in that position, sometimes called "the hole," including key scorer Emma Wright and Elyse Lemay-Lavoie. The team will be without Wright for the opening game against Russia as she serves a one-game suspension from the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.

With the ever-changing travel and quarantine restrictions, the Canadian team made the decision in late January to go on a three-month road trip for the remainder of their Tokyo preparations. It was a tough decision, but a necessary one to see where they are before the Olympics.

First was California in May with a camp and three-game exhibition series against the Americans. Then it was off to Italy for stops in Recco, Rome and Ostia for common training and matches against the Italian national team. After Athens, they'll stay and train with Greece for a week before going to Hungary for a training period, then it's off to Japan to acclimatize for the Olympics.

"It slowly built into this massive trip, but it's actually been really great. I think a lot of us were a bit apprehensive about being on the road that long, but so far, so good."

Packing for three months on the road was tricky. Everyone on the world tour was allowed two bags, one carry-on and one big bag. Eggens joked that all their luggage was overweight, so they had to buy extra bags in California to spread things out before heading to Europe.

Recently against Italy, they picked up two wins by five- and six-goal margins, and because Italy isn't going to Olympics it gave the Canadians time to practice special plays and timeout situations they might use in Tokyo.

"What was nice is we controlled the rhythm of the game from the get go until the end where usually Italy tries to slow the game down," said Paradelo, a recent nominee as sports personality of the decade at Gala Sports Quebec. "On the other side, the Italians are pretty scrappy and aggressive, which is something that we'll face at the Olympics against teams like Russia or Hungary."

Sizing up the competition

Their first tournament atmosphere since the December 2019 Holiday Cup won't be stroll in the park.

"All three are very different teams," said Eggens of their group opponents at the World League Super Final. "Russia is really focused on their counter attack, Hungary is quite strong and they like to press a lot and then Japan is very quick and they like to press but also push the counter attack, so it's a mix. We've prepared for each one while slowly preparing for group play in Tokyo."

The team is currently carrying 16 athletes, which will be cut down to 12 plus one alternate for the Tokyo Olympics. Paradelo expects to make that decision after their week-long training camp with the Greek national team around June 25.

Canada opens its Olympics against Australia on July 24 at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre, followed by Group A games against Spain, South Africa and the Netherlands. The top four teams in each of Group A and B advance to the quarter-finals.