Canada must beat Russia to earn women's water polo berth

Canada's quest for an Olympic berth in women's water polo has come down to one game versus Russia.

The Canadians need a victory over the Russians in Friday's quarter-finals of the Olympic qualifying tournament to book a ticket to the London Games.

Canada, No. 8 in the world, faces a tough task against third-ranked Russia, which went 2-1 in the round-robin portion of the nine-country tournament, beating Italy 15-13, Spain 12-11 and narrowly losing 13-12 to Hungary.

Canada went 2-1-1, beating Kazakhstan 15-4, Brazil 11-4, tying the Netherlands 11-11 and losing 10-2 to world champion Greece.

The quarter-final winners all earn a berth in the Games.

The Canadians narrowly missed out on an automatic Olympic berth at the Pan American Games in October. Canada dropped a 27-26 decision to the U.S. in a gold-medal game that went down to two scoreless overtime periods and then a shootout. A victory would have guaranteed Canada at spot in London.

Canada's men's team failed in its bid for a London berth losing 10-6 to Greece in the quarter-finals of its recent Olympic qualifying tournament in Edmonton.