Olympian Gurpreet Sohi for Canada in FINA World Championships

Toronto: When Canada starts its campaign in the water polo event for women in the FINA World Championships in Budapest on June 18, Olympian Gurpreet Sohi, will be an active member of the team. The championships will continue till July 3.

Canada plays Italy in its first game on June 20.

Gurpreet Sohi is a Canadian of Punjabi descent. She also happens to be the first Punjabi girl to represent Canada in water sports. She will celebrate her 28^th birthday after the conclusion of the Budapest FINA Championships. She comes from Delta.

Gurpreet Sohi had her first taste of international success at the 2011 Youth Pan Am Games where Canada won gold. She has since competed in four FINA World League Super Finals, highlighted by a silver medal in 2017. In 2021, she was part of Canada’s fourth-place finish at the FINA World League Super Final, the team’s first competition in more than 18 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, Sohi scored five goals as Canada finished seventh.

Sohi won back-to-back NCAA Championships with Stanford University in 2014 and 2015. In her senior year in 2016, she served as team captain and was an All-America Honourable Mention. She finished her collegiate career with 87 goals, including seven hat tricks.

Canadian teams will be represented in Budapest with  14 athletes each in men’s and women’s sections. It is for the first time since 2017, that Canada has successfully qualified for both men’s and women’s sections.

The Canadian women, who finished 4th in Budapest in 2017 and 9th in Gwangju, South Korea in 2019, earned their ticket to the Hungarian capital in 2022 thanks to their 7th place finish at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

The women’s team was in Greece where it continued its preparation. It will head to Budapest on Saturday:

“The team is finalising its preparation for the World Championships and we had a good outing a few days ago in Utrecht, Holland, against the Dutch, the defending Champions of the European World League. In the end, they won by a small margin, but it was extremely positive because it was the first time our whole team was together since the Tokyo Olympics. It’s very encouraging,” said Canadian Team Head Coach David Paradelo.

This is the 15th time the women’s team has competed at these championships since 1986. They have been to every world aquatic championship since their inception. Canada’s medal record in the women’s event includes 2 silver and 2 bronze, the last one being silver in 2009.

The Canadian women’s team comprises  Hayley McKelvey, Verika Bakoc, Rae Lekness, Kindred Paul, Clara Vulpisi, Kyra Chrismas, Kelly Mckee, Shae La Roche, Gurpreet Sohi, Emma Wright, Jassica Gaudreault, Axelle Crevier and Amanda Amorosa.

Prabhjot Singh