1 July, 2015
Sixty-six athletes from seven sports will be competing for New Zealand at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea as the action gets under way tomorrow.
Athletics, with 30 athletes, is sending its largest ever contingent to the Games and swimming is also sending a large team of 16. The New Zealand Team also includes athletes from table tennis, rowing, fencing and artistic gymnastics.
Included in the athletics team is Angie Petty, who finished fourth in the 800m and 1500m at the last Games in Kazan, Russia; Eliza McCartney, who won bronze in pole vault at last years junior world athletics champs, and double silver Commonwealth Games medallist Nikki Hamblin who will race the 1500m.
Swimmers Kate Godfrey and Laura Quilter are among those returning to a World University Games after competing at the 2013 Games in Kazan.
Rower Toby Cunliffe-Steel will be competing in his second Universiade regatta, after competing in the mens lightweight double scull in 2013 where he finished seventh.
This is the fourth time a New Zealand table tennis team has gone to the Games.The World University Games is a major international sporting event that is held every two years for student athletes from around the world.
This year more than 13,000 athletes from 141 countries will be competing in Gwangju for the 28th biennial event. This compares to around 10,000 competitors from 205 nations at an Olympic Games. In some sports, the competition fields will be tougher than at a Commonwealth Games as sporting powerhouses such as Russia, China and the United States send teams.
New Zealand Team Chef de Mission Christine Arthur says that for many athletes, the World University Games will be their first experience of competing at a multi-sport, international event. Some athletes will be aiming to use the Games as a stepping stone towards selection to senior world championships and Olympic Games.
``Competing at the Games is significant, as it closely resembles an Olympic Games, Arthur, a two-time Olympian, says.
``For some of the athletes, this will be the pinnacle of their sporting careers and for others it will be a springboard to the Olympic Games.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee is managing the team and carrying out the logistics, as it has done for the two previous World University Games.The New Zealand flag raising ceremony will be on Saturday 2 July, and the competition in Gwangju runs from 3-14 July.At the 2013 Games in Kazan, New Zealand won one medal a bronze by Brent Newdick in decathlon. At the 2011 Games in Shenzhen, China, New Zealands tally was 12 medals all in swimming.
The athletes in the New Zealand Team are:
Artistic Gymnastics: Callum Phillips (University of Auckland) Devy Dyson (University of British Colombia) Jordan Rae (Bowling Green State University) Leo Golder (University of Auckland) Tim Jones (Auckland University of Technology)
Athletics: Aaron Booth (Massey University) Aaron Pulford (Waikato Institute of Technology) Angie Petty (University of Canterbury) Bailey Stewart (Auckland University of Technology) Ben Langton-Burnell (Massey University) Brad Mathas (University of Canterbury) Cameron French (Waikato Institute of Technology) Camille Buscomb (University of Waikato) Daniel Balchin (University of Canterbury) Eliza McCartney (University of Auckland) Elizabeth Lamb (University of Auckland) Fiona Morrison (University of Canterbury) Jack Henry (Victoria University of Wellington) Julia Ratcliffe (Princeton University) Katherine Marshall (University of Tulsa) Keeley OHagan (Victoria University of Wellington) Kelsey Berryman (University of Canterbury) Mariah Ririnui (University of Waikato) Marshall Hall (Southern Institute of Education) Matthew Wyatt (Unitec Institute of Technology) Nick Southgate (Massey University) Nikki Hamblin (Open Polytechnic of New Zealand) Nneka Okpala (Monash University Melbourne) Rochelle Coster (Massey University) Rosa Flanagan (Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology) Scott Burch (Massey University) Te Rina Keenan (Massey University) Tori Peeters (Otago University) Torie Owers (University of California) Veronica Torr (Massey University)
Diving Ollie Armstrong-Scott (University of Otago, Wellington)
Fencing Alice Boyd (University of Auckland) Daniel Garelja (Unitec Institute of Technology) Stephanie Wyllie (Massey University)
Rowing Adelle Stead (University of Waikato) Joshua Earl (University of Waikato) Rachael Kennedy (University of Otago) Toby Cunliffe-Steel (Massey University)
Swimming Alex Peach (Delta State University) Caroline Baddock (Auburn University, USA) Daniel Hunter (AUT University) Ewan Jackson (Massey University) Georgia Marris (University of Florida) Helena Gasson (University of Waikato) Kane Radford (Massey University) Kate Godfrey (University of Otago) Laura Quilter (Massey University) Michael Mincham (AUT University) Monique King (Massey University) Natasha Lloyd (Auburn University) Phillip Ryan (Open Polytechnic) Sam Perry (Leland Stanford Junior University) Samantha Lee (Massey University) Shaun Burnett (Massey University)
Table Tennis Daniel Lowe (University of Auckland) Hweiching Lim (University of Kent) Jonathan Wang (University of Canterbury) Julia Wu (University of British Colombia) Natalie Paterson (Massey University) Roger Rao (Duke University) Zhiyang Cheng (University of Auckland)
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