Water Polo Canada has named Kyriaki Liosi of Athens, Greece as the new head coach of the Canadian women’s program according to Water Polo Canada High Performance Director Oliver Pineau in a press release on Tuesday. Liosi takes over from David Paradelo of Montreal, Quebec. Paradelo had been the Canadian national team’s head coach in women’s water polo since 2010, and will remain as Canada’s U17 women’s head coach.
Paradelo resigned as Canada’s women’s water polo head coach on March 10. With Paradelo as Canada’s head coach, Canada qualified for the quarterfinals at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, before losing 16-5 to the United States, and the quarterfinals of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris before losing 18-8 to Spain. Paradelo’s finest achievement as the Canadian women’s water polo coach was winning the silver medal in FINA Women’s Water Polo World League action in 2017 in Shanghai, China.
Liosi had two significant accomplishments as a player on the Greek women’s national team. She won the silver medal for Greece at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. and a gold medal for Greece at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai. In the women’s water polo gold medal game of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Liosi scored five goals in a 10-9 Greece loss to Italy.