The Germans won both the men's and women's gold medals at last year's World Games in Wrocław, Poland, and will be looking to redeem themselves in the senior men's competition after failing to take a medal at the 2016 World Championships in Italy.

On that occasion it was the home nation that took the gold, and the Italians are once again expected to be contenders this week in the International Canoe Federation (ICF) event.

New Zealand beat Germany in the women's final in 2016, and along with Oceania neighbours Australia will be keen to make an impact against the powerful Europeans.

But the German women have won the senior competition on five occasions, and have not finished lower than silver since the 2000 World Championships in Brazil.

In the under-21 competition, Germany has not lost a title in the women's competition since the first world titles were contested in 2012.

The men's titles have been split between France, with two gold, and Britain.

Germany heads the all-time overall medal tally, with eight gold medals since the first World Championships were staged in Sheffield in 1994.

Britain has seven gold medals and France and Australia five each.

A total of 23 teams will contest the men's competition, including squads from Namibia, Iran, Argentina and Singapore, while China and Sweden are among the 19 women's teams competing.

Malaysia and Ireland are included in the 16 teams competing in the men's under-21 event, while ten teams will contest the women's under-21.

Teams in all competitions will be split into groups and play a round-robin format, with the finals due on Sunday (August 5).

Competition in Welland starts tomorrow with a full day of under-21 competition.

It is the second time the World Championships have been held in Canada, after Edmonton hosted the event in 2008.

Before the tournament the ICF and Chinese sport manufacturer Yupin Sports announced an exciting 10-year partnership that will form the foundation for the continued growth of canoe polo worldwide.

Under the agreement, Yupin Sports will provide valuable equipment for canoe polo for the next decade, starting with the World Championships in Canada.

The arrangement will help the development of canoe polo in new countries, along with already established areas of the sport.

"Our agreement is a milestone for both Yupin Sports and the ICF," Yupin Sport chief executive HaiHong Wang said.

"By working together, we believe we can do more for the sport. 

"It's our honour to partner with the ICF to develop canoe polo."