ICF Canoe Polo World Championships:
Iranian girls finish fourth to secure World Games berth
Iranian women’s team sealed a place in next year’s World Games after a fourth-place finish at the ICF Canoe Polo World Championships in Deqing, China, on Sunday.
The Iranian girls started the final day of the competition with a 3-2 victory over Singapore, courtesy of goals from Fatemeh Jalilian, Atousa Eslami, and Elaheh Pourabdian, to finish runner-up to the Netherlands in Group WP and progress to the semifinals.
Jalilian and Pourabdian were again on the scoresheet but Iran fell to 7-2 loss to New Zealand in the last-four clash later in the day, before suffering a 2-1 defeat against the Netherlands in the third-place matchup – a third loss to the Dutch women for Iran at this year’s event.
New Zealand went on to beat Italy in the final showpiece and lift the women’s trophy.
Iranian women got off to a shaky start in the tournament, suffering back-to-back defeats against the Netherlands (6-2) and France (6-1), before bouncing back to beat the Chinese Taipei 3-2 and stand third in Group WB.
Iran defeated Spain 3-2 in their first Group WP game but fell short against the Netherland and Team GB by the same scoreline (3-2) before beating the Switzerland 4-3 on the penultimate day of the competition.
In the men’s draw, Iran had to settle for a 15th-place finish after a 7-4 win against Australia.
Having stood second in the Group MS table, Iran had come out victorious 7-2 against South Africa in the first game of the 15-18 classification round on the final day.
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