Today was the first day of competition in the Oceania Canoe Polo Championships at the Hokowhitu Lagoon in Palmerston North.  It has been a day of fierce competition between the New Zealand and Australian teams in all categories.

Spectators have been treated to some very tense games with extremely close scores, for example, the Men’s A teams faced off this afternoon, the game ending in a draw.  Both teams managed 2 goals each in the first half with the second half remaining scoreless.  The Aust Men’s B team also took the Kiwi’s down to the wire leading 4-2 well into the second half; a hat-trick of goals to Jed Graham in the last few minutes kept the Kiwi’s hopes alive with a final score of 5-4 to NZ.

Some highlights in the New Zealand camp include:

• The NZ U21 Men (A&B teams) have played 2 games each and are so far unbeaten.  The highest score was 10-3 (NZU21 B against Australian Vets).  The NZ A vs Aust A game was evenly matched and could have gone either way – this will make for a ‘must see’ final on Saturday.

• In the NZ Mens A vs B game, Matt Keong (Captain – NZB) scored from well inside his own half

• NZ U21 Women’s A beat the Australian Women’s B 9-0 while the NZU21Women’s B are proud of a team effort that saw Gemma Potaka (No7) score a runaway goal against the Australian Women’s A team – final score was 7-1 to Australia.

A great feature of the championship is the strength of competition in the Vets (over 35) and Masters (over 45).  Many of the players are parents of players in the younger age groups.  Noel Holmes (Australian Masters) had 4 children playing in World Championships in 2008.  In the Australian Masters team there is a mix between players of 30+ years experience and new players who have started playing in the last 3 years.  Three of their Masters players are women.

For more information visit: www.canoepolo.org.nz