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New Zealand’s kitefoilers have narrowly missed out on making the finals at the world Beach Games in Doha.

Justina Kitchen finished in fourth place out of six in her semi-final, while Sam Bullock narrowly missed out on progressing to the men’s final after a protest saw him disqualified from his final race.

“I did what I needed to do and knew it would be a tight protest. This time it didn’t work out in my favour but I was super happy that I managed to put myself in contention,” said Bullock.

“The wind was light but the races we had were really good so I don’t think the event could’ve gone any better than it did.”

Sam Bullock racing day 2

The New Zealanders were also impressed with the level of skill on display at the Games.

“The men’s fleet was ridiculously strong so you couldn’t afford to do anything wrong, it was great to have that level of competition,” added Bullock.

Meanwhile in the karate Andrea Anacan managed the best showing of the New Zealand athletes.

Andrea Anacan round 2 9

Anacan progressed through the first round but narrowly missed out on making it to the ranking round.

Her karate teammates Isaac Hoshi and Holly Wigg were knocked out in the first round but enjoyed the Games.

“The beach games was a fantastic event overall. I really loved the concept of competing on top of sand rather than mats. Also, the hospitality and support provided was phenomenal,” said Hoshi.

The inaugural Beach Games saw more than 1000 athletes contest 14 sports.

 


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