Sport www.guardianonline.co.nz
Friday, February 19, 2016
■ NETBALL
Top netball in town By Caitlin Porter
Caitlin.p@theguardian.Co.nz
The EA Networks Centre is preparing for a huge weekend of netball. The Mainland Tactix, Southern Steel, Canterbury Men’s and Mainland SuperClub teams are set to descend on Ashburton in early March. A weekend of fierce netball will ensue with games kicking off at 11am on Saturday March 5 between the Tactix and the Canterbury Men’s team. The Tactix will then meet the Steel later that evening before another full day of netball gets under way on Sunday. A coaching session will also be held by the Tactix on Saturday between 9am and 10am. Netball Mainland events manager Clare Cini said she hoped Mid Canterbury would come out to support the twoday event. It was exciting to be able to
The Tactix will be taking on the Southern Steel on March 5. hold pre-season games in a new venue and in a new town but after the success of the New Zealand Secondary Schools tournament it made sense, she said. Following the tournament CEO Brigit Hearn said the EA
Networks Centre stadium may even be considered for the ANZ Championships. Cini said the pre-season games would be a good way to gauge the venue for future large-scale tournaments.
Aside from the high performance level netball, Mainland’s SuperClub teams will also take to the courts. SuperClub sees the top eight teams from within the Netball Mainland district compete against one another over two weekends. Performance development manager Jen Hooper said it was great to have such a range of netball played in the one venue. “It’s great to be able to have the community netball running alongside our high performance and performance netball as well,” Hooper said. Tickets to the netball on March 5 and 6 can be purchased at the door. Entry will cost $5 for adults and a gold coin donation for children. People interested in attending the coaching workshop are asked to contact Mid Canterbury Netball.
■ OLYMPICS
LA going private for 2024 With 97 per cent of the venues in existence or already planned by private investors, organisers of Los Angeles’ bid for the 2024 Olympics are promising a prudent and responsible approach to running the games that would be entirely privately financed. “That is the definition of sustainability in terms of legacy and cost,” said Casey Wasserman, chairman of LA24. “There’s no risk involved with venues or facilities.” Yesterday, LA24 officials released a 64-page report submitted to the International Olympic Committee detailing their vision and concept for bringing the Olympics back to Los Angeles for a third time. Organisers said that within three weeks of launching their bid last September, they secured US$35 million in cash commitments from private donors. The committee is emphasising the city won’t require any extra infrastructure beyond what is already planned for the vast, traffic-choked region over the coming years, including US$300 billion in transportation upgrades. Part of that is an expansion of several rail lines and the first direct transit link to the city’s main airport, which is currently undergoing a US$14 billion modernisation. The bid mentions embracing new technology for ridesharing and parking, including an autonomous vehicle pilot programme. Organisers want the “first energy positive” Olympics, including using solar power.
Beach volleyball concept for the Los Angeles 2024 Olympics bid.
“We’re going to come up with some things that will really help the games get to the next stage,” bid CEO Gene Sykes said on a conference call. Los Angeles is competing with Paris, Rome and Budapest, Hungary, for the games. The IOC will announce the winner next year. “It’s nothing but strong encouragement right now,” US Olympic Committee Chairman Scott Blackmun said of initial reaction to the US bid. Organisers said they would work with the owner of the new NFL stadium being built in Inglewood to explore opportunities for its use in the games. “The most expensive and technologically advanced stadium will certainly be a key part of our plans going forward,” Wasserman said. Organisers want to include Hollywood in the planning, too, although they offered no specific details. The LA games would revolve
around four clusters: downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, along the coast on the city’s west side and in the South Bay. The renovated Los Angeles Coliseum would host track and field and opening and closing ceremonies; swimming and diving would be held in temporary pools at the 22,000-seat Los Angeles Football Club stadium set for completion in 2018; and gymnastics would be at the Forum in Inglewood. LA Live, the city’s entertainment hub, and the University of Southern California campus would anchor the downtown cluster, with weightlifting at Microsoft Theater, badminton and taekwondo at Galen Center, and the Convention Center hosting boxing, fencing, handball, judo, table tennis and wrestling. The valley cluster located in the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area would host canoe and slalom, with temporary facilities for equestrian, modern pen-
tathlon and shooting. The coastal cluster would revolve around Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus hosting volleyball and field hockey in two temporary venues, with the Los Angeles Tennis Center as the site of a temporary venue for water polo, and Santa Monica Beach hosting sand volleyball, triathlon and open water swimming. The South Bay cluster would focus on the StubHub Center in Carson as the site of tennis, rugby, cycling at the renovated Velo Sports Center and BMX in a temporary venue. Golf would be in Griffith Park, sailing on the LA waterfront, mountain biking in the Santa Monica Mountains, rowing and canoe/kayak at Lake Casitas in Ventura County, and soccer at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Only five venues used the last time Los Angeles hosted the Olympics in 1984 are part of the current bid, including the Coliseum, Rose Bowl and Pauley Pavilion. The athletes’ village would be on the UCLA campus, where officials are planning for 16,500 to 17,000 beds for athletes and team officials. Organisers said 90 per cent of all sports would occur within 30 minutes of the village. The bid’s insurance plan includes something unique to the Los Angeles region: earthquake coverage. It would cover costs if venue construction was delayed or became more expensive because of a quake. - AP
Ashburton Guardian 17
In brief On-field action wanted While most of AAMI Park will nervously be watching the stands to ensure there’s not a repeat of last week’s flare-up, Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat wants to see a performance on the field. Tonight the A-League champions are in action for the first time with the threat of a points deduction hanging over their heads. It’s adding to Victory’s points tally that concerns Muscat, who has an intimidating task when they welcome Adelaide United to AAMI Park. Victory were the last team to beat United, back in November. - AAP
Last chance saloon Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold will give his starting unit one last chance at arresting their freefall in tomorrow’s highly-anticipated sellout derby against Western Sydney. A frustrated Arnold threatened to wield the axe after their inept defeat to Perth last week resulted in a drop to a season-low sixth spot on the A-League table. The Sky Blues have now gone a month without a win and are in real danger of slipping out of the top six. - AAP
Rooney on injured list Manchester United have been dealt a hammer blow after captain Wayne Rooney was ruled out for up to two months with a knee ligament injury. News of the setback emerged after United landed in Denmark for their Europa League clash with Midtjylland without the England striker. Rooney has been in a hot streak of form in recent weeks, scoring seven goals in the last nine games, but his absence leaves United with just one senior striker in Anthony Martial. Will Keane has been added to the squad to face Midtjylland. - AP
Bale transfer probe Three European MPs want the European Union to probe Gareth Bale’s 100 million euros ($NZ155 million) move from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid in 2013, according to media reports. British MP Daniel Dalton, Catalan colleague Ramon Tremosa and Belgian MEP Sander Loones have asked the EU to find out if the transfer was supported by Spanish banks that had been bailed out by European Union taxpayers. “If taxpayers’ money was used to underwrite the Gareth Bale transfer deal then this is something the EU should investigate,” Dalton said. - AP
Ronaldo ends drought Cristiano Ronaldo ended his away scoring drought with an impressive second-half goal as Real Madrid won 2-0 at Roma yesterday in the first leg of their round of 16 Champions League tie. The victory also marked a successful debut for Zinedine Zidane as Madrid’s manager in the elite competition, with the 10-time champion taking a big step toward the quarter-finals. It was Ronaldo’s first goal on the road since November 29, when he scored a penalty against Eibar. “Everyone expects (Ronaldo) to score and today he was able to,” Zidane said. “I’m happy for these two away goals and that we didn’t concede any goals.” - AP