Underwater Hockey World Championships

The Underwater Hockey World Championship is the peak international event for the underwater sport of Underwater Hockey. The event is conducted on behalf of the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) by an affiliated national federation. The championship was first held in 1980 in Vancouver, Canada after the intended initial championship scheduled for 1979 was beset by difficulties and ultimately postponed, due to the invitation of a team from South Africa.

Subsequently, a world championship has been held every two years in locations around the world up until 2006. However in 2008, a rival world championships was conducted by the World Aquachallenge Association (WAA) in Durban, South Africa. This is held by some to have been the official 2008 World Championship. WAA was founded by CMAS national federations in dispute with CMAS over policy and governance matters concerning underwater hockey.^[1] Since 2008 CMAS has once again administered all the world championship events in various age/gender divisions with the most recent having been held in Eger in Hungary in 2013. World championships are now scheduled for every second year.^[2]

History

Championships conducted by CMAS

Year	Date	Championship	Location event	# Nations	# Events
1980	-	1st World Championship	Vancouver, Canada[3]	5	Men's, women's
1982	-	2nd World Championship	Brisbane, Australia[4]	3	Men's, women's
1984	-	3rd World Championship	Chicago, United States[5]	8	Men's, women's
1986	April 16 – 27	4th World Championship	Adelaide, Australia[6]	7	Men's, women's
1988	-	5th World Championship	Amersfoort, Netherlands[7]	9	Men's, women's
1990	-	6th World Championship	Montreal, Canada[8]	9	Men's, women's
1992	-	7th World Championship	Wellington, New Zealand[9]	9	Men's, women's, masters
1994	-	8th World Championship	Grand Couronne, France[10]	10	Men's, women's, masters
1996	-	9th World Championship	Durban, South Africa[11]	11	Men's, women's, masters, women’s masters
1998	-	10th World Championship	San José, United States[12]	14	Men's group A & B, women's, masters, women’s masters, friendly games
2000	April 25 – 29	11th World Championship	Hobart, Australia[13]	15	Men's, women's, masters, women’s masters,
2002	July 20 – 28	12th World Championship	Calgary, Canada[14]	13	Men's, women's, masters, women’s masters, youth
2004	March 22 – 31	13th World Championship	Christchurch, New Zealand[15]	9	Men's, women's, masters, women’s masters, Under 19 open & women under 19
2006	August 15 – 24	14th World Championship	Sheffield, United Kingdom[16][17]	17	Men group A & B, masters, women, women masters, under 19 open, under 19 women, friendly games
2007	July 31 – August 4	15th World Championship/1st CMAS Underwater Games	Bari, Italy[18]	6	Men, women,
2009	August 21 – 29	16th World Championship/2nd CMAS World Games	Kranj, Slovenia[19][20]	12	Men, women,
2011	August 16 – 27	17th World Championship/3rd CMAS World Games	Coimbra, Portugal[21][22]	12	Men, women,
2013	August 23 – September 1	18th World Championship/4th CMAS World Games	Eger, Hungary[23]	19	Men - elite, masters, under 23 & under 19; women - elite, masters, under 23 & under 19[24]
2016	March 22 – April 2	19th World Championship/5th CMAS World Games	Stellenbosch, South Africa	17	Men - elite, masters; women - elite, masters.

Championships conducted by WAA

Year	Date	Championship	Location event	# Nations	# Events
2008	April 25 – May 3	1st WAA World Championships	Durban, South Africa[25][26]	10	Men, women, open masters, under 19 open, under 19 women

The 1st WAA World Championships is considered by some as being the legitimate 15th Championships.^[27]

References

External links

• CMAS Championship Archive
• WAA World Championship Results
• Underwater Hockey and Octopush Historical Records