Silver Ferns win world cup
The Silver Ferns have won their fifth Netball World Cup title after beating the Australian Diamonds 52-51 in the final in Liverpool.
It’s the first time New Zealand has lifted the World Championship trophy in 16 years and marks an impressive turnaround for the Ferns after last year’s fourth place finish at the Commonwealth Games.
Victory completed a fairytale ending for Ferns defensive legend Casey Kopua, who was playing her 112th and final test for New Zealand. She might not be the only one playing her last game for New Zealand with Laura Langman and Maria Folau’s futures with the side uncertain.
The Ferns had to withstand a frantic finish from Australia, who rallied from 41-34 down late in the third quarter, closing to within a goal at various stages late in the game.
Australia looked rattled as the goals mounted for the Ferns in the third quarter. The Diamonds were unable to stem the flow of ball firing into Folau and Ekenasio, who were hitting from all over the circle. An Australian comeback was always on the cards, but this time the Ferns stood firm when it mattered most to capture netball’s biggest prize.
AT A GLANCE:
New Zealand 52 (Maria Folau: 28/35, Ameliaranne Ekenasio: 24/26) Australia 51 (Caitlin Bassett: 35/40, Steph Wood: 5/6, Gretel Tippett: 11/11) Quarter scores: 1Q: 10-10, HT: 28-25, 3Q: 41-37.
Gold for Booth at World University Games
Aaron Booth won New Zealand’s only gold medal, out of all sports, at the Games, a gold in the decathlon with a personal best score of 7827 points. The 22 year old USA based athlete was second after day one with a score of 3993. He had a PB pole vault of 4.80m which held him in second behind Alexander Diamond of Australia. A javelin throw of 60.51m propelled him into the lead which he maintained after a 1500m of 4:31.38. Diamond was second with a score of 7593.
Three Golds, one Silver and two Bronze for New Zealand at Rowing World Cup
Nine New Zealand crews contested A Finals at World Rowing Cup III in Rotterdam, Netherlands with six crews taking home medals. The women’s eight, single and lightweight double all take gold, with the women’s pair taking silver and the men’s pair and eight taking bronze.
New Zealand ranks fourth on the World Rowing Cup III medal table and second on World Rowing Cup overall points.
Jan Shearer Appointed Snow Sports NZ CEO
The Snow Sports NZ Board has completed the CEO recruitment process and is pleased to announce the appointment of Jan Shearer who has been the Acting CEO.
Over the last 15 months Jan has worked with the Snow Sports NZ senior management team to continue to enhance the business as we move through the next four year cycle.
She has also worked closely with the Alpine community to bring together a new strategy for that sport and has been involved in a number of work streams being undertaken by Sport NZ and High Performance Sport NZ to build on the success Snow Sports NZ achieved with its high performance athletes in the last winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Jan has stepped down from the Board and a replacement will be made as part of the normal board rotation cycle at the AGM in September.
