The Underwater Hockey World Championship is the peak international event for the

underwater sport Underwater sports is a group of competitive sports using one or a combination of the following underwater diving techniques - breath-hold, snorkelling or scuba, usually including the use of equipment such as diving masks and fins. These sports ...

Underwater Hockey Underwater hockey (UWH), (also known as Octopush in the United Kingdom) is a globally played limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into the opposing team's goal by propelling ...

. The event is conducted on behalf of the

Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) is an international federation that represents underwater activities in underwater sport and underwater sciences, and oversees an international system of recreational snorkel and scu ...

(CMAS) by an affiliated national federation.

History

The

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

was first held in 1980 in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

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 South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and the problems associated with

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Subsequently, a world championship has been held every two years in locations around the world up until 2006. 2006 saw many CMAS-affiliated national federations as well as the majority of the CMAS Underwater Hockey Commission members in dispute with CMAS over policy and governance matters concerning underwater hockey. Out of the divide the World Aquachallenge Association (WAA) - an alternative governing body - was born. In 2007 CMAS intended to incorporate the Underwater Hockey World Championship into its inaugural World Games event in

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, an ambitious event intended to showcase all of the underwater disciplines (

Underwater Rugby Underwater rugby (UWR) is an underwater team sport. During a match two teams try to score a negatively buoyant ball (filled with saltwater) into the opponents’ goal at the bottom of a swimming pool. It originated from within the physical ...

Finswimming Finswimming is an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water's surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins or underwater with monofin either by holding one's breath or ...

etc) governed by them in one place. As far as underwater hockey goes this event was poorly attended, in part due to it being 'out of synch' with many affiliated federations' training calendars and budgets. The following year - the 'normal' world championship year - the WAA organised their 'rival' 1st World Championship event in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. This is now held by many to have been the official 2008 World Championship despite it being poorly attended too, in part this time because CMAS organised a major underwater hockey 'zone' event to be held in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on exactly the same dates meaning a majority of European federations were forced to choose which championship their representative teams attended. The WAA was short-lived and 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

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

in 2018. World championships in the different age categories are now scheduled for every second year.

Editions Summary

Championships conducted by CMAS

Source:

Senior

Junior

Championships conducted by WAA

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

Results by Nation

Notes

References

External links

CMAS Championship Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwater hockey world championships Underwater hockey Underwater Recurring sporting events established in 1980