The World Games 2025 is set for August 7-11 in Chengdu, China with eight teams competing split in women’s sixes competition in two pools. The top two teams from each pool advance to the semifinals.
The full schedule for the event can be found here.
Pool A at The World Games 2025 features the defending gold medalist Canada, the host China, and teams with medal aspirations in Great Britain and Japan.
Canada took home the gold medal in women’s sixes at the last edition of The World Games in 2022, the nation’s first women’s senior gold medal.
Great Britain fell in the bronze medal game to rival Australia, while Japan narrowly fell in the fifth-place game.
Jump to Games to Watch
Canada
Canada returns eight players from its gold-medal winning team in 2022, including stars Erica Evans, Aurora Cordingley and goalkeeper Lauren Spence. Cordingley led all players with 22 points in 2022, coming on 13 goals and nine assists. Spence played every minute of Canada’s five-match campaign.
Nicole Perroni and Brooklyn Walker-Welch are both experienced players to support the attack with midfield and defensive responsibilities in the fast-paced sixes format.
Evans and Jordan Dean, also in the women’s sixes squad, both were named to the World Team at the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s Box Championship. In seven games, Evans led the championship with 55 points on 33 goals and 22 assists.
Recently, 11 out of the 12 players in the team competed together in field lacrosse at the 2025 Pan-American Women’s Lacrosse Championship in June, as Canada took the silver medal. Kylea Dobson had the second most points on the team behind Cordingley.
China
The hosts China will look to make a splash in women’s sixes and showcase the rapid development of the discipline in the country, a key focus for China Lacrosse.
While China did not appear at The World Games 2022, China’s sixes team has competed at the Super Sixes – Hong Kong, China event, taking third in 2023 and fourth in 2024.
China also secured an impressive result in field lacrosse at the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship, taking ninth place in the 20-team field.
Five players from the U20 team are included in the squad, including Li Chen and Yixin Zhang, who are both from Chengdu.
Most recently, seven players suited up for China in field lacrosse at the 2025 Asia-Pacific Women’s Lacrosse Championship, highlighted by attacker Jing Peng and goalkeeper Becky Yang.
Great Britain
Great Britain will look to improve on its fourth-place finish from 2022, with four players returning from that squad in Chess Gray, Emma Oakley, Olivia Wimpenny and goalkeeper Emilie Chandler. Wimpenny was one of the two scorers on the team to clear 10 points with seven goals and four assists.
With the top-four finish in 2022, Great Britain bypassed the Women’s European Sixes Qualifier in March of 2025. Eleven players did suit up in the 2024 European Women’s Lacrosse Championship in Braga, Portugal, with nine appearing for England and two appearing for Scotland.
Chess Gray and Lottie Robertson tied for a team-high 10 goals for Scotland. Goalkeeper Dylan Whittington finished with a save percentage above 50% for England, which also received strong midfield contributions from Emma Oakley, Emma Savage and Emily Gray.
Great Britain has suited up multiple times in sixes in the past few years, appearing at Super Sixes – Canada, Super Sixes – Hong Kong, and at the EuroLax Sixes Cup in 2024, when the team took the gold behind strong performances from Wimpenny and Savage.
Japan
Three players return from the Japan team that competed at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama in Nene Kawai, Negai Nakazawa and Nozomi Tanaka.
Nakazawa led Japan in Birmingham with 16 goals and three assists. She was also selected to the World Team for Japan after a strong performance at the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship, as Japan claimed bronze, its first-ever medal in the woman’s program, as it finished over Australia and England.
Kokoro Nakazawa was previously named to the World Team for Japan at the 2019 Women’s U19 Championship and appears in the squad in Chengdu alongside her sister Negai.
Japan qualified for The World Games 2025 by way of its gold-medal winning performance at the 2025 APWLC, with four players from that squad set to compete in August, including Atsuko Oda.
Games to Watch
China vs. Great Britain // Thursday, August 7, 2:30 p.m.
The host China makes its debut in the final game of the first day of action against Great Britain. Great Britain will look to start its medal push with a win while China will try to play spoiler buoyed by a home atmosphere in Chengdu.
Great Britain vs. Canada // Friday, August 8, 9 a.m.
The two top-four finishers from 2022 in the pool meet on the second day of competition. Canada got the better of Great Britain when they met in Birmingham, but Great Britain will force the star-studded Canadians to bring their A-game if they are to maintain the upper hand between the two programs.
Great Britain vs. Japan // 2:30 p.m.
Japan has been chasing Great Britain across every discipline of lacrosse, and has recently made breakthroughs, first in men’s sixes at the bronze medal match at The World Games 2022, and then in junior women’s field in 2024, when Japan toppled England, 12-7. Great Britain still has the better of Japan in women’s sixes, finishing ahead in 2022.
The two teams could meet on the final day of pool play with playoff hopes on the line, in a thrilling encounter reflecting the race in both country’s robust sixes development programs.
