The South African men’s and women’s U21 canoe polo teams are off for a testing two-week trip of Europe where they’ll play in two tournaments to gain as much experience as possible ahead of the 2020 Canoe Polo World Championships in Italy.

The 2017 South African Canoe Polo championships take place at Homestead Lake in Benoni this weekend, with 14 teams from around the country contesting the national honours.

The South African canoe polo team have arrived in Italy for the 2016 ICF Canoe Polo World Championships and with a good mixture of youth and experience, are eying a strong showing against the world’s best when the tournament starts Tuesday and continues through to 4 September.

The 2016 South African Canoe Polo Championships dished up some enthralling excitement at Shongweni Dam over the weekend as the less-fancied KwaZulu-Natal team were too strong for Gauteng in the senior men’s final and the KZN women made it a double with victory over the Gauteng in a one-sided affair.