Sevens
The New Zealand men’s sevens side has defeated Australia in a thriller to win the Canada World Series Title.
The side advanced to the finals of the Vancouver tournament, after defeating Fiji in the quarterfinals 17-5, and then South Africa in the semi-finals, 27-15
The final saw New Zealand play their Australian rivals in a rollercoaster match. Australia dominated possession for much of the first half, scoring two quick tries. The second half saw three red cards handed out (two to Australia and one to the Kiwis) with the New Zealanders capitalising to take the win 17-14.
This tournament win is the New Zealanders third of the season, which sees them retain their series lead.
Boxing
Hamilton boxer David Nyika has secured a unanimous decision victory at his Olympic qualification tournament in Jordan to book a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Nyika outboxed Syrian Alaa Ghousoon, avoiding most of his southpaw opponent's dangerous overhand left hooks to become the first New Zealand male boxer to reach the Olympic Games in 16 years.
Nyika said, "it's been my dream to make the Olympics from before I even started boxing. When I was running with the Hamilton City Hawks, I really wanted to be a marathon runner. I'm far beyond that now, but I've always wanted to excel in my chosen sport, so it's a dream come true."
With the weight of qualification lifted, Nyika's focus switches to his two possible remaining fights in Amman this week. If he wins both, he will be in contention for a top-four seeding placement, which progresses his Tokyo 2020 campaign.
Snow Sports
Snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has won gold in X Games slopestyle held in Norway.
The 19-year-old showed technical prowess in the rails at the top of the course with combos like her backside bluntside to backside 180 sameway and her boardslide pretzel.
Her switch backside double cork 900 stalefish in Run 3 was the biggest trick of the contest. She took an early lead in Run 1 and never gave it up, with top-to-bottom runs in three of her four passes.
Japan’s Kokomo Murase bettered her Aspen 2020 bronze performance with a Slopestyle silver and Canada’s Brooke Voigt earned her first X Games medal with bronze.
Athletics
New Zealand’s athletes have showed off their skills at the Athletics National Champs in Christchurch.
Racewalker Quentin Rew was one of the stars of the meet, wiping more than nine seconds from his national 10,000m record.
The two-time Olympian recording a slick time of 40:42:11.
“When we think of New Zealand athletics we often think of shot put and 1500m but race walking is one of our top events. We punch well above our weight and to carry on that tradition and set a New Zealand record is something I’m really proud of.”
Youth Olympic champion Connor Bell put on a clinic to take the men’s U20 discus title which also saw him climb to number one on the 2020 world rankings with a stunning best effort of 67.40m in round six.
The teenager has been in outstanding shape this year setting a PB of 63.25m with the senior 2kg implement to climb to number three on the all-time New Zealand lists.
In-form javelin thrower Tori Peeters defied challenging conditions to secure her fifth national title with a rock solid sixth-round throw of 57.79m. The 25-year-old Waikato Bay of Plenty athlete set a huge new national record of 62.04m in Sydney last month – within two metres of the Olympic entry standard.
Tom Walsh claimed an 11th straight national shot put title to match his championship best performance of 12 months ago with a season’s best of 21.70m on his home track.
Dame Valerie Adams was also in action, throwing 18.73m to place second overall but win the New Zealand title.
Commonwealth champion Julia Ratcliffe then secured her fifth national hammer title, with a throw surpassing 70m for the third competition in succession.
Football
The Football Ferns will pay for bronze in the Algarve Cup tournament in Portugal after losing their semi-final.
Tom Sermanni’s side had earlier beat Belgium in their opening match of the tournament to book the semi-final spot against Italy.
The Italians, who made the quarter-finals of last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, were determined to progress and their superior execution in the final third made the difference as goals from Cristiana Girelli, Barbara Bonansea and Stefania Tarenzi gave them a well-deserved 3-0 win.
The side will look to earn a confidence-boosting result in their bronze medal clash against Norway on Wednesday morning (NZT).
Weightlifting
Kanah Andrews-Nahu has recorded a personal best while competing at the bronze Olympic qualification event in Ohio.
Kanah nailed five out of her six lifts, hoisting 96kg in the snatch and 119kg in the clean and jerk for a 215kg total.
The results saw Kanah break 8 New Zealand junior records.
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