U.S. Set for Olympic Preview

The U.S. will play Canada tonight at 7 in the opening round of the Holiday Cup women’s water polo tournament at the National Aquatic Complex at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center.

The tournament, which ends Sunday, is a preview of the September competition at Sydney, where women’s water polo will be an Olympic sport for the first time.

All six teams--Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Netherlands are the others competing in the tournament--have qualified for the Olympics.

The U.S. placed second in the two major international tournaments held so far this year. In other games today, Kazakhstan plays the 1999 World Cup champion Netherlands at 4:30 and defending world champion Australia plays Russia at 5:45.