The Sun
sport inbrief
Bug strikes Black caps
Black Cap Tim Southee is in doubt for New Zealand’s Twenty20 World Cup opening match on Friday following a visit to hospital. Southee was absent from the cricket team’s loss to South Africa on Monday due to a stomach bug. Rob Nicol and Daniel Vettori were also sick from the bug, but were in good condition.
cameron contests title New Zealand boxer Shane Cameron will face his biggest battle yet when he contests Australian Danny Green for the IBO world cruiserweight title. The match is set to take place in Melbourne on November 21. Cameron will be the first New Zealand-born boxer in 84 years to challenge a world title.
Jr Warriors in spotlight Up to eight players from the under-20 Junior Warriors Toyota Cup team are being investigated by NSW police after a Sydney hotel room was trashed. Police were called in the early hours of Sunday after receiving reports a number of rooms had been damaged by the players.
Friday September 21, 2012
sport
19
sports talk
Fireworks and ‘glitz’ for Val It was great to see Val Adams on Wednesday evening finally receive the Olympic gold medal that should have been dangled around her neck in London. This is becoming a new trend. A few years back runner Nick Willis traded in the Olympic bronze he received at the Beijing games for a silver because a drug cheat had been found out. And now the same thing with Adams. But Willis had no medal ceremony to match the one Adams was given in Auckland on Wednesday. Surrounded by other London Olympic gold medallists, and in front of a small crowd of 2500 in
The Cloud, the Governor General had the honour of presenting the medal to Adams. At the end, fireworks exploded not just in Auckland but in Wellington also. All very glitzy and richly deserved, but I would have preferred a more public venue where the average Joe and Joan Public could have turned up (at no charge) to acknowledge the great champion...including many of Adams’ fans from her own south Auckland. Meanwhile, there’s plenty of rugby on again this weekend with the Tasman Makos venturing south to meet Otago in the Forsyth Barr
Stadium. After their game against Northland at Lansdowne Park last Sunday, the Makos would have welcomed the week-long break. Three matches in eight days showed in that performance but they could conceivably still have managed a win. The match only really got away from them in the dying stages after Northland’s Mateo Malupo ran in a fine try and the Taniwhas thrust the dagger home with a penalty in the dying seconds. It wasn’t a great game to watch and I found myself getting frustrated with the refereeing especially the delays in getting
chris tobin lineouts and scrums over and done with. So what of the Makos’ chances on Saturday? They’ll have to clean up their terrible error rate if they hope to stand a chance since Otago, with the return of All Blacks Ben Smith and Tamati Ellison, are on a bit of a high. Last week Otago scored seven tries in easily repulsing North Harbour. They’ll be a big test for the Makos’ defence.
Outstanding results for top of the south skiers Marlborough’s primary school skiers carved their way to some great results at Rainbow Ski area recently. The AMI Top of the South InterPrimary School Ski Championships was held on September 13. There were 177 entries from schools throughout the top of the South Island, who joined up for a day of clear skies, no wind, and fresh snow delivered just the day before. Racing involved a two-run Giant Slalom with teams of four from each school, and individual times counted towards fastest
individuals. The local top-10 placings saw junior teams from Rapaura School gaining a third and tenth place, and a senior team from Renwick School gain fourth place. In the individual competition, junior girls’ competitor Ella Schoni from Waikawa Bay School was first, beating the seniors and the boys. In the senior girls’ competition, Lina Schoni from Queen Charlotte College was placed second, and Jonty McGill from Renwick School won the senior boys’ individual competition.
charlie struthers was on the rapaura rockets team.
squash team named The New Zealand team for the Women’s World Team Championships has been named, and all four players are ranked in the top 50. Joelle King (12), Jaclyn Hawkes (19), Kylie Lindsay (39), and Amanda Landers-Murphy (46) will represent the country at the competition in France in November.
adams gets her gold
Olympic shot putter Valerie Adams has finally received her gold medal, six weeks after the 2012 London Olympics final. Over 2,500 people were present to see Adams awarded her deserved medal at The Cloud in downtown Auckland on Wednesday night.
Williams’ shirt goes for $10,000 Sonny Bill Williams’ ripped shirt from the All Blacks World Cup win over Tonga during the tournament has raised $10,000. The shirt was given to Sky TV, then handed over to Baseball New Zealand to auction to help raise money for the sport here.
mimi Bond was on the rapaura racers team that gained a third placing at the inter-primary school ski championships.
Cricket event cancelled
The 150th anniversary celebrations of the Picton Cricket Club scheduled for next weekend have been cancelled. Club secretary Coral Beaton said there had been a disappointing response from former players. “The committee had only two positive replies so we decided not to go ahead,” Mrs Beaton said. “We’re going to have another bash at some other date; we’ll have our annual meeting this
weekend.” Mrs Beaton said the club intended to field teams in the second, third and fourth grades of the Marlborough Cricket Association competitions this season. “We’ll be getting some imports from Blenheim,” she said. A history of the club is being compiled by David Baird. Some well known players have played for the club over the years, most notably Lance Cairns.
russel nicholson from the rapaura racers team.
oscar sandford-Jury from the renwick Juniors team
thetasmanmakos cheerleaders have been a big hit at lansdowne park for the makos two recent matches in Blenheim against southland and northland.