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Wednesday 11 April, 2007 With the opening festivities over, attention has turned to the sports field with the first full day of competition at the 2007 Uni Games. Dig out your thermals - Christchurch's golden spell of weather is over. After delivering ideal conditions for the start of the Games the weather gods are no longer smiling on us. A severe weather warning has been issued by the MetService for the South Island, with rain and frosty gales due to hit Christchurch by week's end. The last five races of Wednesday's Uni Rowing Regatta had to be cancelled because of the blustery conditions. Strong winds are likely to buffet the region again on Thursday while temperatures are expected to plummet on Friday so dig out those winter woollies and wellies and wrap up warm before venturing out. Remember though that while the weather may be turning sour the Games have lost none of their cool. Play on! 
Women's world champion driver Phillis Meti is one of many talented students competing in this year’s golf tournament. The second year AUT sport and recreation student won her world title in Nevada last October. In front of about 4000 spectators she had to hit six balls as far as she could in less than three minutes. Her best drive was 298 metres. “That means she can hit the ball a long, long way!” says Massey University golf competitor Jenna Hirst. The world champion has been involved in sports other than golf as well but is considering concentrating on just golf. “I’m starting to narrow down on what I want to do now,” she says, admitting she is keen to just “study and play golf”. That rules out other sporting involvements like netball, shot-put and discus. Her world ranking means she has not been eligible to enter amateur tournaments lately so she is looking forward to playing in Christchurch for AUT this week. “It’s my first tournament of the year so I’ll just be testing my game skills!” she says. Alongside Phillis, there are several other talented golfers in the tournament. Four men have a handicap of zero, which could potentially make the competition quite close. In the ladies’ competition, Amy Smith and Natalya Sydorenko have handicaps of 0.3 and 0.8 respectively. Competition manager Gary Forster says the low handicaps could make for some pretty good competition this year. Golfers will play 18 holes per day for three days. At the end of play on Friday, the player with the lowest score is the winner. There is also a team’s competition running at the same time. A tight contest between traditional foes Auckland and Canterbury marked the start of the canoe polo. With only four teams playing, the stakes are high and all teams are playing aggressively. Auckland played Canterbury A in a tight match in which both teams refused to give up. From the first whistle both teams played aggressively, attacking each other as much as they were allowed to, and it continued throughout the entire game. An error made by Auckland saw Canterbury paddling across the entire pool a to score its first and only goal of the match. The first half remained fairly even, and in the final minutes Auckland levelled with Canterbury, to bring the half time score to 1-1. The second half was also close, with both teams showing their skill and hunger for the win. However, the half remained scoreless and the teams drew the game 1-1. The second game of the day, between Otago and Canterbury B proved more one-sided than the first. Right from the opening minutes Otago showed its ability to attack the ball, and held most of the possession throughout the first half. It ended the first half four goals up on Canterbury. But Canterbury made a promising start to the second half, scoring in the opening minutes. This was short-lived, as Otago showed its endurance, and completely dominated the second half to convincingly win the game, 10-1. Otago showed that it will be the favourite for the title after day one, beating a tough Canterbury A team, 6-3. All four teams will make the semi finals that take place tomorrow and there will be a real battle on as they all get one last chance to make the final. Cross country runner wins despite injury 
A last minute decision to enter the cross country race has paid off for injury plagued Madeline Butler-Munro from Otago University.
With two years to go at Otago, Madeline is planning to defend her title next year. In the men’s competition Matt Harris, from the University of Canterbury, remained in the lead throughout the race, winning the race with a time of 21.46 minutes, 24 seconds ahead of second place getter Matt Singleton from Victoria University. In third place was David Ridley, from University of Canterbury, with a time of 22.47. The men run 6km whereas the women run 4km.
Waikato has high hopes in badminton Waikato University student Joe Wu began the badminton tournament today the way he wants to continue – with a win. “He finished the game in like ten minutes,” a laughing team mate says, pointing at Joe. The 21-year-old computer science student has been playing badminton since he was five years old and can now boast a long list of achievements. He is ranked 8th in New Zealand, has played at the junior Commonwealth Games and has been in the New Zealand elite squad for four years. A Prime Minister's scholarship and a Sir Edmund Hillary scholarship have also been awarded to him as recognition of his success. After playing for more than 15 years, and training 12 times a week he says he still enjoys the game and wants to continue. “I guess one reason is I’m good at it, and I also like the challenge,” he says. Sometimes he trains up to three times a day, with a mixture of specific badminton and off-court aerobic training. He trains with a group of other scholars in Waikato with the help of coach “TJ” who used to be ranked number 23 in the world. He chose to do his university studies in Waikato because there are not many badminton opportunities in his hometown Christchurch. He says it is also easier to be in Waikato because it is “so much closer to Auckland”, where most international tournaments are played. His next big international tournament is in Auckland in May. Badminton is one of Waikato University’s biggest medal hopes this year. Waikato University badminton manager, Glen Delamere says: “We have a small team but it’s probably more competitive than what we’ve had before.” Lincoln triumphs over Canterbury 
Lincoln University held on to beat Canterbury 1, 4-3 in a niggly but entertaining Pool B men’s soccer match . Lincoln got off to a perfect start when after only a few minutes play, tall midfielder C. Handtrack beat Canterbury 1 goalkeeper Simon Donaldson with a long range curling effort. The opening stages were dominated by a series of yellow cards and a number of crunching tackles. One Lincoln player was forced to leave the game with an injured foot, after a nasty lunge by a Canterbury defender. Canterbury equalised shortly after, with Aaron Corkhill’s powerful strike being too hot for the Lincoln goalkeeper to handle. Lincoln did not take long to regain the lead though, with pacy winger Finn Peters finishing off a superbly weighted through ball to make it 2-1. Peters added a second on the stroke of halftime from the penalty spot after Canterbury’s Colin Baugh was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box. Lincoln picked up exactly where they had in the first half, after half-time with their fourth goal of the game. A wonderful free kick from Francis gave the countrysiders a handsome three goal cushion. To their credit though, Canterbury 1 never gave up and kept pushing for goals. Half way through the second half, Danny Lingard pulled a goal back for the red and blacks, to make it 4-2. Canterbury had another good opportunity shortly after, with Jereon Vink’s chance being well saved by the Lincoln goalie. With only three minutes remaining, Canterbury 1 set up an exciting finish with Shane Eglinton volleying home to reduce Lincoln’s lead to only a goal. Eglinton’s goal proved in vain though, with Lincoln holding for a crucial victory over their local rivals. Two-goal Lincoln University hero, Finn Peters was concerned his side nearly blew a 4-1 lead. “We got lazy and thought we had it in the bag,” he said. Peters said the team needed to work on its consistency if it was to compete for silverware in this year’s tournament . 
The volleybal competition has kicked off at Pioneer Stadium. In the first of the men's games Otago beat Victoria 3-0 and Canterbury narrowly lost to the visiting Queensland University of Technology team 2-1. In the Women's competition, Victoria University beat University of Canterbury
Speed and youth make Lincoln team to watch Lincoln has become the surprise team in the rugby league competition, upsetting last year’s runners up Victoria on day two. Lincoln’s speed and youth is making it the team to watch, as it beat a disappointed Victoria side, 28-16. It then backed up in its afternoon match, beating Canterbury B 32-22. This secured Lincoln a place in the semi-finals against an on-form Canterbury A team tomorrow. Canterbury A beat Otago 34-16 in its afternoon match. The game was hard-fought between both sides, but Canterbury continued to show themselves as championship favourites. Backs Jonathan Manu and Blair Dravitski performed well, breaking the line a number of times to contribute to their sides dazzling attack. Otago beat AUT in its morning match 36-22, securing it a spot in the other semi-final. Standoff Sione Taunga was unstoppable across the field, which helped Otago in attack and defence. It plays an impressive Auckland side, who, like Canterbury A, remain unbeaten. It beat Canterbury B this morning, 36-26, and drew this afternoon with Victoria, 18-18. Victoria will have to settle with playing for 5th and 6th on Friday, while AUT and Canterbury B will have to battle it out tomorrow, to secure the other spot in that match. What’s brimming with more spirit than a tray of shots at the local student watering hole? Advocating the “spirit of the game”, competitors braved blustery conditions in Christchurch to hurl the frisbee-like disc around the Ilam fields. Players apply the athletic endurance of soccer and the aerial passing skills of netball and American football whilst controlling the game by self-refereeing. Faced with windy conditions Canterbury A turned up the heat in the afternoon game against AUT. It was a resounding 15-6 win by the red and blacks through a combination of accurate passing and cohesive playing. Although the Canterbury side comes into the competition as first seed Tournament Manager Michael Connolly says based on the play so far it looks like it will be an Auckland Victoria final. A must see event, he says, is the exhibition game on Thursday which will showcase New Zealand universities top players. Canterbury team star player Hannan Stephenson was the open division top scorer in the World Ultimate Club Championships held in Perth last year. The 23-year-old Engineering Management masters student first challenged himself to Ultimate four years ago when he decided to join a “random club” at university. “I was like a dog, I ran and fetched. It’s great – fun and fast and there are no refs.” AUT Sport and Recreation student Carl Edwards has just started playing Ultimate. Lincoln strongest team on paper AUT will have to fight hard to hold onto their status as netball champions in the 2007 Uni Games. In what is expected to be a fierce competition, Lincoln University 1 is looking to wrestle the title from their North Island counterparts. Lincoln started their first game with a bang - proving their dominance in a huge win of 107-8 against Canterbury University 3. Tight defence and accurate shooting by Karli Hopkins and Rachel Howden meant Lincoln controlled the game from the first whistle. Previous champions AUT also started on a positive note, winning their game 51-39 against Lincoln 2. Competition manager Lyn Miles has AUT and Lincoln down as most likely to be battling it out for the championship on Friday. She said Massey and Victoria were also possible contenders. “It is hard to tell at this stage however, as it is only the first day of competition. Come tomorrow we will have more of an idea,” she says. Due to Victoria University competing with only seven players, questions surround their ability to maintain endurance throughout the two 60 minute games each day. Equipped with four Canterbury representative players among a strong team of 12, Lincoln University appear to have the talent and ability to work their way to the finals. 
For the first time a full range of souvenir products is available for purchase during the Games. 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 be purchased around the venues during the week and at Uni Games Headquarters, UCSA building on Friday. Check out more details on the merchandise pages of the USNZ website Don't leave Christchurch without one - or three! For post orders email: dave@brandsinternational.co.nz. 
More photos from the 2007 Uni Games can be found on University Sport New Zealand's website www.universitysport.org.nz Check out the photo gallery and see if you can spot yourself or your team mates in action. ResultsCheck out all the Day's results on the University Sport website |
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