World Aquatics has taken another bold step to ensure that the game of water polo remains clean on all fronts. To achieve this objective, World Aquatics has announced a twoyear deal with Sportradar Integrity Services. According to a release by World Aquatics, Sportradar Integrity Services, a global supplier of sport integrity solutions to more than 180 sports organisations and state authorities would monitor international water polo matches. More than 450 matches will be monitored under the terms of the agreement, including the Men’s and Women’s Water Polo Tournaments at the World Aquatics Championships, the Men’s and Women’s U20 Championships, and the Men’s and Women’s Water Polo World Cups. The competitions have and will continue to be covered by Sportradar’s Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), a proven AI-driven bet monitoring system which has helped identify more than 8,000 suspicious matches across other sports during the last 18 years.

World Aquatics, Executive Director, Brent J. Nowicki, said: “We are firmly dedicated to protecting our competitions from integrity threats, particularly as we move closer to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The depth of knowledge that Sportradar Integrity Services provides through its UFDS platform and expert team puts us in a great position to mitigate any betting-related issues that may arise across our competitions.” Sportradar Integrity Services Managing Director Andreas Krannich added: “In recent years we have seen match fixers infiltrate an ever-increasing range of global sports at various levels of competition, including youth events. Aquatic sports are not immune to such integrity threats, and we are committed to providing the strongest integrity provisions using our technology to protect World Aquatics water polo competitions over the next two years.”

FIFA U20 World Cup: Flying Eagles get tough group opponents

The Flying Eagles have been handed a tough draw in the FIFA U 20 World Cup slated for next month in Argentina. The Ladan Bosso tutored team would face soccer super powers Brazil and Italy in the group stage. According to the draw released on Friday afternoon in Zurich, the 2015 African champions will face former champions Brazil, Italy and the Dominican Republic in Group D of the tournament. African champions Senegal will confront Colombia, Japan and Israel in group C while African 1st runners the Gambia will play in group F alongside France, Korea and Honduras.

2023 FIFA U20 World Cup Full Draw

Group A

Argentina

Guatemala

Uzbekistan

New Zealand

Group B

USA

Ecuador

Fiji

Slovakia

Group C

Senegal

Colombia

Japan

Israel

Group D

Nigeria

Brazil

Italy

Dominican Republic

Group E

Uruguay

Iraq

England

Tunisia

Group F

France

Korea

Gambia

Honduras

The host, Argentina are the most successful country in the tournament while Nigeria are two-time finalists in 1989 and 2005.