The Great Britain men’s team sealed their semi-final spot in a decisive day five at the ICF Canoe Polo World Championships in China.
A 4-3 defeat to Spain in Deqing placed the British men fourth going into their final group match, but a 7-1 hammering of Belgium, combined with a draw between Italy and the Spanish, leapfrogged GB above both and into the semi-finals.
A guaranteed top-four finish also seals qualification at next year’s World Games – the first time for the British men since 2005.
“It was brilliant,” said Fergal McConvey.
“Going into the game we knew we had to leave everything on the table.”
They will take on reigning world champions and top seeds Germany in Sunday’s semi-final at 2:10am (BST), with France and Denmark in the other last-four tie.
“We just have to approach the semi-final like every other game,” he added.
“The Germans are a very good team, and the current world champions.
“We played them two years ago in Saint Omer and it didn’t go very well so it’s a bit of a redemption story. Again we’ll just have to play our best and see how it goes.”
Britain’s women’s side sit joint-third with one group match to play after a 3-2 win over Iran and 3-2 defeat to table-topping Netherlands.
They will face bottom side Switzerland in their final group match at 1:00am (BST) needing to better the result of second-placed Iran and Spain to reach Sunday’s semi-finals.
The GB U21 men bounced back from the last-gasp agony of missing the last four by beating Poland 5-4 in a seesaw play-off to seal an excellent fifth place.
It left them unbeaten throughout the five days of competition and two positions higher than their last finish at the worlds, two years ago in France.
“The main thing was getting in the head space for it after the disappointment yesterday,” said Toby Marlow, who scored nine times in his final championship as an under-21 player.
Team-mate Flynn Hammond added: “There’s not much difference between fifth and sixth in some people’s minds but we wanted to approach the match with the same intensity and finish it off.”
The U21 women, one of the younger sides at an average age of 17, ended the tournament in sixth place after losing a last-gasp play-off 5-4 to Netherlands but beating Australia 4-1.
“After losing to Netherlands we really needed to finish with a win and we did just that,” said Jessie Hurtt.
Facing Spain in a crunch penultimate match of a tight group, the Great Britain men fell behind inside two minutes to Sergio Grillo’s opener.
The British were all square when skipper Suryan McCutcheon worked just enough room to squeeze in a good finish.
But GB were left cursing their luck when a second-half shot pinged off the goal frame and sparked a lightning Spanish break which Alejandro Gordo Herrero finished.
Twice Spain opened up a two-goal lead through Samuel Pardavila and Herrero’s second.
But twice GB cut the gap to one thanks to Suryan’s deflected finish and strong work from his brother Shivan as four goals were added in 90 all-action seconds.
Yet they could not find another as Britain fell to a second group defeat.
Going into the final group game, they lay within a point of second place so needed other results to go their way if they were to make the semis for the second world championships running.
They had already struck the goalframe three times when Alex Lowthorpe kept his composure from a fast break to fire in one-on-one after four minutes.
Daylight was created between the sides after two super finishes from Santanam through the centre as Britain established a half-time 3-0 lead.
Fergal McConvey then made it four within 15 seconds of the restart before Santanam completed his hat-trick.
Lowthorpe and McConvey helped themselves to a second apiece either side of a Tim Oris reply as GB completed a 7-1 win.
The level of celebrations at full-time suggested the players had already heard the news from the neighbouring pitch.
A draw between Italy and Spain allowed GB to leapfrog above both to snatch second spot and a semi-final berth.
Having drawn their opening two matches of the second group stage, Great Britain women badly needed to beat surprise package Iran and did so.
Sara Lanao-Madden forced in a second-minute opener before Iranian top scorer Elahe Pourabdian equalised.
Bethan Littlewood had a penalty saved and then forced another save as GB dominated the first half, but somehow found themselves behind to Alousa Eslami’s long-range breakaway goal just before half-time.
The Iranian defensive heroics continued in the second half as GB shots continued to rain in.
However, Madden finally broke the resistance midway through the half, and just 30 seconds later Littlewood banged in the winning penalty to edge a tight contest.
Up next in the penultimate group game were table-topping Netherlands who began with a perfect record of six wins from six and extended that run to clinch their semi-final spot.
The fast-starting Dutch twice hit the bar, while Littlewood made a couple of impressive saves before Alisha van den Berg found the roof of the net for a deserved lead.
The Brits struggled to create clear chances before the break and had a mountain to climb as Selina Dijkstra and Thura Bruijn made it 3-0.
Madden pulled one back from close range to give GB hope with four minutes left, and Eleanor McBay slotted into an empty net on the break to set up a tense finale, but the Dutch held on.
Having had a semi-final spot snatched away in the final four seconds of their last group match, GB U21 men had to pick themselves up for a play-off with Poland to decide fifth and sixth place.
Britain lost Flynn Hammond to an early green card but rode out the Polish powerplay and went ahead when Toby Marlow fired in the opener against the run of play.
Viktor Manczak deservedly drew Poland level, but Jake Searle slammed GB ahead just nine seconds later from the restart.
Stanislaw Bulira was given too much space to claim a second equaliser and Polish skipper Manczak then put the Poles ahead during Hammond’s second visit to the sinbin.
But Marlow drove a shot into the far corner of the net to take GB in level at the break.
GB responded to a prolonged period of Polish possession at the start of the second half with Searle’s 18th goal of the championships, via a deflected finish.
Marlow then swapped passes with championship debutant Nathan Aleksik to complete his treble with a breakaway fifth.
Szymon Kaliszek cut the gap to 5-4, but GB weathered late pressure to end their five days in Deqing on a high note.
GB U21 women’s bid to repeat the fifth-place finish of two years ago were boosted when Jessie Hurtt picked up a rebound off the bar to fire them ahead in their play-off with the Netherlands.
Lise Manders levelled with Erin McCullough in the sinbin, but McNamara restored the lead from range and then fired in for 3-1 after patient build-up involving Emmy-Lou Hussin.
Jelske Kuijpers’ super angled finish halved the deficit but GB looked in control at 4-2 when McNamara completed her hat-trick with a shot from deep.
But Kuijpers’ second sparked a terrific comeback which saw Estelle Berkhout level with 90 seconds left and Megan Lotgerink fire in a long-range winner with the last action of the game.
However, the British gave a positive campaign the ending it deserved by beating Australia.
Goals from Erin McCullough, Poppy Clews and Jesie Hurtt gave GB a 3-0 half-time lead before a second from Clews completed a 4-1 win.
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