England’s Water Polo Squads Prepping for Commonwealth Games

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, January 9. WITH the Commonwealth Games beckoning, England is sending its water polo squads to the Southern Cross Cup in New Zealand. The preparation tournament will run from January 16-19 and the water polo portion of the Commonwealth Games is slated for Perth from January 23-29. Both English teams are young, as only three members of the men’s team competed at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. For the women, eight of the 13 team members are relative newcomers.

"Both squads are very young with the majority of athletes aged 20 or under," said National Performance Director Nick Hume. "The Commonwealth tournament has been identified as a development springboard toward the Olympics in 2012 and subsequent European Championships. It's going to be good experience for us in terms of international competition. It will be an uphill battle if you look at the caliber of the teams competing with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all having played at last year's World Championships."

The Commonwealth Championships will feature 14 teams with England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore and Canada sending both men's and women's teams while Wales and Scotland will also contest the women's tournament. The Canadian women, who won bronze at the World Champs, will be favored for gold.

"England will find it very demanding because they'll be playing teams with much more international experience," Hume said, "but we will be looking for consistency and improved performances as the tournament progresses. We want to make sure the hard work both squads have undertaken over the past 12 months is paying off."

England Men's Team
1. Andy Crawford (Bristol)
2. Mark Banwell (Cheltenham)
3. Scott Carpenter (Lancaster)
4. Thomas Curwen (Lancaster)
5. Craig Figes (Bristol)
6. Richard Leighton (Rotherham)
7. Alex Parsonage (Strasburg/Cheltenham)
8. Adam Scholefield (Rotherham)
9. Edward Scott (Manchester) (GK)
10. Andrew Squires (Lancaster)
11. David Taylor (Cheltenham)
12. Matthew Thresher (Bristol)
13. Daniel Williams (Bristol)

England Women's Team
1. Tara Smith (City of Sheffield)
2. Kate Lewis (City of Manchester)
3. Bernice Cowton (City of Sheffield)
4. Sarah Pimblett (City of Manchester)
5. Fiona McCaan (City of Liverpool)
6. Francis Leighton (City of Sheffield)
7. Angela Winstanley-Smith (Bordeaux, France)
8. Carol Mohan (City of Sheffield)
9. Aine Hoy (City of Manchester)
10. Hannah Wilde (City of Liverpool)
11. Chloe Wilcox (City of Sheffield)
12. Larissa Davies (City of Sheffield)
13. Rosie Morris (City of Liverpool)

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