Andrea Kilday wins taekwondo Oceania gold
Taekwondo athlete Andrea Kilday has earned New Zealand a quota spot at the Rio Olympic Games after winning gold at the Oceania championships in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Kilday won the women’s -49kg class and joined seven other athletes – four from Australia, two from Papua New Guinea and one from Tonga – to claim Rio berths at the tournament.
In a hot venue and against quality competition, Andrea managed to stick to her game plan to claim a well-deserved gold medal.
Last year Kilday also perfomed exceptionally in Papua New Guinea as she became the first New Zealander to win gold at the Pacific Games.lso perfomed exceptionally in Papua New Guinea as she became the first New Zealander to win gold at the Pacific Games.
Jolly good time for Kiwis with world 470 silver stash
A final surge by Kiwi sailing crews Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, and Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox, has secured two silver medals at the world 470 championships in Argentina.
Reigning Olympic champions Aleh and Powrie – aka Team Jolly – described this year’s regatta as one of the longest and hardest. Powrie struggled through with illness, but the duo still managed to rise through the standings to finish third in the final medal race and overtake the Austrians for silver.
Snow-Hansen and Willcox won five races during the regatta, including the medal race to ensure silver was theirs. Their previous best performance at a world 470 championship was seventh in 2013.
Meanwhile, Natalia Kosinska has finished 16th overall at the 2016 RS:X World Championships in Israel after picking up two places on the final day
Black Sticks in striking distance of series victory
The Black Sticks women are level-pegging with arch-rivals Argentina halfway through their six-match series in Mar del Plata.
A last-minute goal from Kirsten Pearce clinched a 3-2 victory for New Zealand in Sunday’s thrilling third test – coming off a 2-2 draw in the series opener and a 1-0 loss to the world No. 2 host nation.
Today's fourth test has been postponed until tomorrow following an unexpected death in Argentinian hockey circles.
PHOTO: Hernan Pablo Barrios
Vaulter’s exceptional summer rolls on
Teenage pole vaulter Eliza McCartney continues her sensational summer, setting four more New Zealand records and earning a place at next month’s world indoor athletics championships.
The 19-year-old cleared 4.71m at the opening of the AUT Millennium pole vault facility on Auckland’s North Shore – smashing her own NZ national, resident, all-comers and under 20 records – and beating two-time Commonwealth champion Alana Boyd of Australia along the way.
The record height also surpassed the qualifying mark for the world indoor champs in Portland, USA, where pole vault will be the opening event.
Walsh snatches NZ shot put record back
South Canterbury shot putter Tom Walsh has reclaimed his national residents record at the Auckland Track Challenge, keeping alive his fierce rivalry with Auckland’s Jacko Gill.
Part-time builder Walsh set a new record with a throw of 20.91m, eclipsing the mark of 20.83m set by Gill two weeks earlier. Gill was a late withdrawal from the competition in Waitakere having suffered a wrist injury.
But the two Kiwi throwers who are pushing each other to new limits, will go head-to-head again at the world indoor championship in Portland in mid-March.
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Valerie Adams was satisfied her with return to competition after a seven-month injury break, winning the women’s shot put with a throw of 18.85m.
Carrington pushed to the top at national canoe sprint champs
Lisa Carrington was in stellar form at the national canoe sprint championships on Lake Karapiro last week, taking home an impressive haul of gold medals in the face of increased competition.
The Olympic and world champion had to fight off fierce challenges from Teneale Hatton and Caitlin Ryan to win the K1 100m final, after a more decisive victory in the K1 200m – her eighth-straight national crown in the event. Carrington later teamed up with Jaimee Lovett to win the K2 500m title.
Carrington praised the level of commitment and skill of other New Zealand women paddlers, who are also gunning for spots at the Rio Olympic Games
Another episode of breaking bad for Sarah Walker
Olympic BMX silver medallist Sarah Walker has suffered a set-back on her road to Rio, breaking her left arm in two places during a crash in a training session in Cambridge.
The accident will take her out of upcoming ranking events in Argentina and England. But the former world champion - no stranger to bad breaks having broken 15 bones during her illustrious career – is confident she will bounce back again to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Walker told the NZ Herald: "It's not too bad - to me broken bones are easy fixes. Compared to other things I've been through, it's not a big hurdle. It's just part of the journey."
Kiwis share honours at Oceania badminton champs
New Zealand and Australia have shared the spoils at the Oceania team badminton championships in Auckland.
The Oceania powerhouses faced each other in both the men’s and women’s finals, with New Zealand winning the men’s team final and taking silver in the women’s.
The Kiwi men clinched the title after Dylan Soedjasa, James Eunson and Michael Fowke won all three singles matches, while Michelle Chan Ky won her singles encounter in the women’s final, where Australia triumphed 4-1.
Fox leads the hunt for NZ PGA title
Coming back from an ankle injury, New Zealand No 2 Ryan Fox will lead a strong Kiwi professional contingent aiming to win the New Zealand PGA Championship at the Remuera Golf Club this week.
Thirteen of the 15 New Zealand golfers on the official world rankings list will play in this tournament and the New Zealand Open in Queenstown next week.
Fox and Josh Geary both made the cut at the Perth International on the European Tour at the weekend; Fox tied for 52nd one under par, while Geary finished on one over, and tied for 62nd.
Kereyn Smith and Duane Kale appointed to 2024 Olympic Evaluation Commission
New Zealand Olympic Committee CEO and Secretary General Kereyn Smith and International Paralympic Committee and Paralympics New Zealand Board member Duane Kale have been appointed to the Evaluation Commission for 2024 Olympic Games.
The two New Zealanders were appointed by IOC President Bach and join other international sporting leaders to assess 2024 Olympic candidate city bids from Los Angeles, Rome, Budapest and Paris.
Smith said she was delighted with the appointment. “It is a great honour and responsibility. My commitment is to assess the bids from an athlete and National Olympic Committee perspective and I look forward to adding value to the wider Olympic Movement.”
