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| Invercargill to host Oceania champs |
By NATHAN BURDON - The Southland Times
Invercargill's ILT Velodrome will in November host its second Oceania championships.
Cycling Southland president Steve Canny confirmed the city would again stage the time trial, track and road categories of the event, which was last here in 2007.
The Oceanias, which will run from November 11 to 15 the week after the Tour of Southland are looked upon as a stepping stone to a successful Southland bid for the 2011 junior world track championships.
"It's a credit to the organisation down here. (The Australians) rated the last Oceanias held here as being the best event in 25 years," Canny said. "We are confident of delivering a very good event and it's a milestone on the pathway towards securing junior worlds."
Canny said Cycling Southland hoped to know in June or July whether it had won the rights to the world championships.
Several steps had to be taken before Invercargill was given the nod, including a technical adviser from the sport's governing body, the UCI, reporting on the quality of the velodrome and the city's infrastructure.
In the meantime, Canny expects many of Australia's best riders to be involved in the November Oceania championships.
While it was well outside the buildup to the London Olympics, there was really no downtime in cycling any more, he said.
Courses for the time trial and road race are yet to be finalised.
The 2007 event used an out-and-back course at Winton for the time trial and an impressive circuit based at Gore for the road race, which was won in impressive style by Hayden Roulston. |
Published: Fri, 08 May 2009 12:00 a.m.
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| Kendoka pursue of 'the way of the sword' |
By LOGAN SAVORY - The Southland Times
KIAI!: Invercargill Kendo Club members practise in the Southland Girls' High School gymnasium ahead of the national championships to be held in the city at the weekend.
It won't be netball at the No1 and No2 courts at Stadium Southland in Invercargill this weekend.
Instead it will be the sound of thwacking sticks resonating around the auditorium as New Zealand's top kendo practitioners compete at the national championships.
The competition in Invercargill will showcase New Zealand's best and will be the last practice for New Zealand's top kendoka (practitioners) before they travel to Brazil for the world championships in July.
Three of New Zealand's sixth dan (black belt) kendoka will compete on Saturday.
The Invercargill Kendo Club will be represented at the championships and club secretary Shane Robinson says Tatsuya Fukuda (men's black belt division) and Robyn Middleton (women's division) will be competitors to watch out for.
Juniors Shea Emett (11), Hayden McClymont (9), Sam Kelly-Shanks (8) and Brent Crichton (7), will also be competing this time, he said.
This is the second time in three years the championships will be held in the southern city the last was in 2006.
Robinson said the quick succession of hosting rights just three years apart has come about because of the financial aid of the Invercargill Licensing Trust.
The ILT has donated $4000 towards the cost of this year's competition.
"We wouldn't have been able to pull it off without the ILT giving their support."
Robinson believes having the nation's best in the city can only be good for local kendo.
"Hosting the championships is important because our younger members can train and compete at a level they would not normally be able to," he said.
Corey Sutton had just begun his training in 2006 when the previous competition was held.
The competition has inspired the 15-year-old to gain his black belt: "After the last championships he just rocketed up".
If Sutton continues to work hard, Robinson believes he has the potential to make the national team.
The championships will start at 8.30am and entry is free. |
Published: Fri, 08 May 2009 12:00 a.m.
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| Southland must back events to continue host role |
The Southland Times - Wednesday 18 March 2009
For a little province, population-wise anyway, we do pretty well when it comes to hosting top sporting events, writes Jerrie Andrews in this week's Centre Pass.
In the past few weeks alone the following have been announced:
* Southland will host two Rugby World Cup games in 2011, one involving Scotland, the other featuring Argentina; one a Six Nations team, the other a 2007 World Cup semi-finalist.
* The first of two tests in New Zealand between the Silver Ferns and Australia will be played in Invercargill in September. In terms of international netball, it rarely gets better than this.
* Badminton's Whyte Trophy will be hosted at Stadium Southland, also in September. The three-test series between New Zealand and Australia is, by all accounts, a fantastic sporting spectacle and what better place to watch New Zealand's domination of the Australians than on our back doorstep?
* The Oceania Cup of hockey will be played on Invercargill's new water turfs in August and will include three teams ranked within the world's top 10.
On a national level Southland has recently hosted the national track cycling championships and this year the national netball championship finals will be played in Invercargill, as will the national open and wheelchair basketball championships and hockey's Hatch Cup.
But the thing is, Southlanders are going to need to support these events if we want to continue getting these hosting rights.
I'm sure in many cases it would be easier to host events in Auckland, where there are at least a million more people than there are in Southland, there's a chance of much bigger crowds and it takes only one flight from most areas to get there.
So the national bodies that dish out the host venues are taking a chance on Southland.
We've shown in the past that's a chance worth taking and now that that's being rewarded we need to make sure we don't take these fixtures for granted.
» Jerrie Andrews is the Southland Times netball writer and covers a range of sports including multisport and snow sports. |
Published: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:00 a.m.
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| Invercargill to host prime netball test |
The Southland Times - Saturday 14 March 2009
Invercargill is to host a trans-Tasman battle between netball titans the Silver Ferns and Australia in September.
Netball New Zealand made the announcement of an Australia v Silver Ferns netball test at Stadium Southland late yesterday.
It will be the first to be played between the rivals in Invercargill since 2001, when the Yvonne Willering coached and Bernice Mene captained side beat the Australians 58-47.
Other internationals to be hosted in the city include the last, in March 2005, between England and New Zealand, Barbados in 2002 and another test, again with England in 2001.
Netball New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle said: "I think Southland fans are fantastic and it's about rewarding them for their support, not only for the Silver Ferns but the Sting as well." |
Published: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:00 a.m.
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