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Friday 13 April, 2007 
All good things must come to an end and so it is with the 2007 Uni Games. Thanks to all of you - the volunteers, competitors and sports officials - who have made this year's Games so successful. We hope you leave Christchurch with many happy memories and not too many sore muscles! Volunteer co-ordinator Sara Daji paid a special tribute to her willing band of brown-shirted volunteers: "The volunteers have done an extremely good job on the sports field, in the HQ and with the media. The Games would not have run as smoothly without them.'' The Games will be back in 2008 so keep an eye on our website for details on how you can get involved. And the Shield goes to . . . CANTERBURY 
Canterbury University’s determined bid to win back the coveted University Shield has paid off, with the home-side taking top honours in the 2007 Uni Games. It has been eight years since Canterbury held the shield – the symbol of university sporting supremacy for more than 80 years – and it was determined to wrestle it from last year’s winner, Victoria University. About 600 students competed for Canterbury during the four-day course of the Games, making it the largest team to ever compete in the event. Second place went to Otago who sent the largest travelling team to Christchurch in a bid to win the shield for a record 36th time and cement its place as Games heavyweight. Games director Jake Wilkins says he is delighted with the level of competition at this year’s Games. “We’ve had some really top class sportspeople competing here and it’s been great to have the opportunity to watch these talented people perform. They are the rising stars of their respective sports and I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more of them in the future.’’ Basketball gold for Canterbury victors 
Canterbury tasted glory with a 60 to 51 victory over Victoria in the men’s basketball final. The red and blacks dominated the first quarter racing out to a 20 to 10 lead thanks to strong play from forward Brandon Laurensen and guard Jamie Hall. Seven points to start the second quarter from Chris Summers saw Canterbury's advantage balloon out to 27-12. A series of baskets from Victoria’s Chaz Taurima kept Victoria in the hunt, however, and they went into the second half down by just 13. Any chance of a Victoria revival was hurt straight after half time with Hall draining back-to-back three pointers to increase Canterbury stranglehold. Canterbury national league representative Willy McVitty made a basket at the opposite end though and hit the resulting foul free throw shot to secure the victory. Hall and Summers were the Canterbury stars with 15 and 13 points respectively Taurima led Victoria to 14. In the men’s bronze medal match AUT were too strong for Otago holding on 74-69. AUT denied making it a South Island double in the women’s final narrowly defeating Otago 58-54. AUT led for most of the game but Otago’s Sam Anderson cut the lead to only 2 points with one minute remaining. Aquathon competitors battle gale force winds 
Twenty-one brave students battled with gale force winds in the aquathon held at QE2 today. Although some took it more seriously than others did, all competitors gave it everything in the 750m swim and 3.5km run. Charlotte Wainwright put in a fantastic swim, coming out of the water first, and taking out the women’s title in 33.11 minutes. Wainwright, a first year student at Victoria also played in the women’s water polo final against Canterbury. A former national schoolgirl water polo representative, Wainwright says the swim was definitely her strongest leg: “The run was horrible, I spewed in the last part of it but had to keep going.” Otago’s Timothy Hargrave took out the men’s title, after putting in a huge effort in the run. “I was down a few places in the swim, but knew that the run was still to come and I used the wind to my advantage.” Hargrave is a specialist cyclist and runner, so the swim was more of a challenge. He came in at a time of 26.35 minutes, just five seconds ahead of Shaun Michael Kavanagh from Victoria. Victoria had an impressive 12 competitors in the race, and a vocal supporter’s club to match. 
Auckland's white-water kayaking training paid off when it smashed Otago in the canoe polo final. It beat Otago 7-1 in a completely different game from their match yesterday which ended in a draw. Auckland’s David Isaacs has been an influential player for his team scoring some superb solo goals throughout the tournament including in the final. Isaacs was in the New Zealand under-18 team in 2005, and currently plays in the national league. The rest of the team are involved in white water kayaking, and paddled down the treacherous Mohaka River near Gisborne before they came to Christchurch. Auckland dominated the game from start to finish, working well together by defending and attacking the ball aggressively throughout the match. In the play-off for 3rd and 4th, Canterbury A beat its fellow Uni mates Canterbury B 9-0 in another one sided match. It was more of a friendly game, but Canterbury A made sure it stamped its ground for third place. 
Auckland skill chopped through the competition to take the karate title at the Uni Games. Canterbury was second, with Victoria taking third. Competition manager Patrick McGregor credited the superier experience of the Auckland team, key in helping it rack up points. Of particular note was the performance of Kylie Rochford, a Commerce student form Canterbury, who won the Women's under 60kg division as well as the open division. "She fought really well - she was very mobile, clinical and clean about what she was doing," McGregor says. The students had the added bonus of being able to showcase their talents to experts in the field. Officials from Karate New Zealand, in Christchurch for the NZ Open this weekend, helped marshal the event. Cold and blustery weather conditions at Sumner Beach forced the cancelation of the Uni Games Beach Volleyball competition today. With players huddling in sleeping bags and cramming into vans in search of warmth, team officials made a unanimous decision to cancel. “Players realise it would not be much fun out there, and the majority are accepting of the fact that the weather is not in our favour today,'' says competition manager Arnold Witteeven . Canterbury shows touch of class 
Reigning provincial touch champs Canterbury continued their winning form taking the men's title at the Uni Games battle of the ball. Canterbury 1 grasped gold 6 to 2 over AUT with Canterbury 2 taking bronze. Competition manager John Watson paid tribute to the Otago performance. The mixed team, he said, was admirably led by NZ open grade representatives, Ed Burrell and Tasi Corditz. Another NZ mixed open representative player, Auckland's Donni Rihari, had just returned from the touch world cup in South Afrcia "Otago is not known as a strong-hold in touch and they came fourth in the mens and won the womens. In the mixed match Ed and Tasi were ably supported by Nadine Stone and Lauren Ensor.” Watson said the standard of the competition had been fantastic. 
Newcomers to the sport of fencing got to watch some of the best fencers in New Zealand during this week's Uni Games championships. Fencers competed with three weapons - the foil, epee and sabre - over the three days of the event. Among the competitors were some of New Zealand's top-ranked fencers, including Michael Hoskings, from Auckland, who won the men's foil and Andreas Sesun, from Canterbury, who has previously competed in the World Student Games. "The top four in all events have been pretty serious and pretty tough and of the standard of nationals," says competition manager Katherine Taylor. Also competing were people who had only recently taken up the sport and who were "just having fun." For the second year the competition was restricted just to university students. Previously it was open to all competitors because of the small numbers involved in the sport. "The overall standard of the competition is going up,'' says Taylor. Canterbury, which had nine more members than the next biggest team, easily won the overall team title. A windy day on Avondale Golf Course did not stop two talented student golfers from winning the 2007 University Games golf tournament. Lincoln University’s Rodney Yee and Massey University’s Amy Smith took out the men’s and women’s golf titles respectively. They each won a second gold for their university in the team event as well. 
It was anyone's game - until the final quarter of play - when Canterbury and Victoria's women's water polo teams met in the final. The Victoria University team came out firing in the first quarter after losing to Canterbury by five points in a round robin match. However, Victoria missed two crucial player-up opportunities early on so had no advantage at the end of the first quarter, with the score tied up at 1-1. The second quarter saw tight defence from both teams. Each team netted one long range shot, raising the score to 2-2. A defensive steal from Canterbury’s Rebecca Stewart saw her team mate Rebecca Boyd securing them a one-point advantage. Another strong attack from Canterbury took the score to 4-2 at half time. In the third quarter, Canterbury’s Hannah Boyd scored early on, but their three goal advantage was short-lived. Victoria’s all round tight defence and ‘workhorses’ Charlotte Wainwright and Jessie Barwick saw two goals in their favour before the start of the final quarter. With the score at 5-4, it really was anyone’s game for the final six minute period of play. A rowdy Victoria support crew added to shouting players in the pool as the atmosphere intensified. After two great saves by Canterbury’s goalkeeper Charlotte Pearce, and a long range cross pass between Rebecca Stewart and Rebecca Boyd, the Canterbury team finally started to increase their lead and finished victorious, beating Victoria 8-4. Water Polo competition manager Debbie Bowry said she had been really impressed with the tournament. The seven women tournament team included four Canterbury players and three Victoria players. Favourites take out netball title Lincoln University 1 is the deserving champions in the 2007 netball competition of the Uni Games – following a string of comfortable victories. Today’s final saw Lincoln take on Palmerston North’s Massey University. In front of a huge crowd of supporters, Lincoln came away with the gold medal and a decisive 62-20 win. The first half of the game got off to a slow start. Tight Massey defence slowed Lincoln’s game right down – play became less direct and Lincoln made unforced errors The second half saw accurate shooting by Lincoln attacks and a number of intercepts in the defense to give Lincoln the control they needed. A considerable lead was established and Massey was unable to break the flow of the ball going straight into the hands of the Lincoln shooters. In the bronze medal final between Canterbury 1 and AUT, Canterbury 1 was not able to repeat yesterday’s victory – AUT taking back the win 56-40. After concentrating hard on the competition all week, Lincoln 1 is looking forward to celebrating their victory. “We plan on proving that not only do Lincoln girls work hard, we also play hard,” says goal defence Gina Taylor. Waikato was a sure bet to secure gold at the women's badminton tournament from day one of the compeition. The team was sitting on 32 points, while their closest rival, Victoria University, was 10 points behind them. All that was left for the gold medal winner to be officially named was a final round between the two top teams. In the singles, Waikato was consistently the best, winning every set. Waikato’s best ranked player Vina Aurellia won both her singles sets, with big score margins of 21-2 and 21-4. Vina has only been living in New Zealand for two years but already has a long list of badminton successes. The Sir Edmund Hilary scholar was in the New Zealand under-23 team for a test series against Australia last year. And she won the singles at the New Zealand Junior Championships in 2005. Her Waikato University team secured the gold medal today, winning all six of their games in the final round. In the men’s competition, it was a lot closer. The final score was tied at 3-3 but after a count back on points, Victoria University was the champion. Competition manager Louise Cunningham says there has been some good competition in the tournament. Canterbury demolishes Auckland Unbeaten in the entire tournament, Canterbury demolished an exhausted Auckland team 30-6 in the rugby league final. After a gruelling five games in four days, Auckland could not put anything together against a determined and skilful Canterbury. Playing against a howling southerly wind, both teams were tested throughout the game, not being able to kick the ball as much as they would normally. After a close start, Canterbury controlled most of the possession through the first half, and Auckland put on some great defence meaning the score was still close and relatively low at half time, 10-0. Canterbury’s Blair Dravitski scored a superb try, running 30 metres, and breaking through three Auckland players to touch down just before half time. Auckland’s fatigue was more evident in the second half, as Canterbury played consistently, pushing Auckland to its limits. Auckland scored a try in the dying minutes, but it was not enough to hinder the triumphant Canterbury side. Canterbury captain Ben Horrell says his side is “stoked” with the result. “We put away most teams in the tournament, but today was by far our best game.” New Zealand University League chairman Malcolm Cherrie says: “This year’s tournament was better than anything I’ve seen at any games ever.” Still want a souvenir of this year's Games but haven't quite got around to purchasing one? The games may have wrapped up but T-shirts ($25-30), long sleeve shirts ($35), tank tops ($25), polo shirts ($45), hooded sweatshirts ($55), shorts ($25), caps ($20) and beanies ($20) can still be purchased online. Check out more details on the merchandise pages of the USNZ website For post orders email: dave@brandsinternational.co.nz. 
More photos from the 2007 Uni Games can be found on our website. Check out the photo gallery and see if you can spot yourself or your team mates in action. Check out all the Day's results on the University Sport website. |
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