Down but not out
Sir Bob Charles and US amateur champion Danny Lee, 18, were amongst the line-up at the New Zealand Open, with Charles, “believed to be the oldest golfer to make the cut on any of…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Memorial at Shore’s Edge
Missing Warriors rugby league player Sonny Fai, 20, is remembered with wreaths and garlands at a memorial on Te Henga, Bethells Beach, in Auckland, a poignant image included in a Los Angeles Times photo…
New Black Cap
Newly-appointed Black Caps manager Dave Currie – chef de mission of the New Zealand team for the 2004 and 2008 Olympics campaigns and the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games – has worn many hats…
Big Easy Baller
Auckland local Sean Marks is enjoying regular playing time on the New Orleans Hornets, one of America’s top basketball teams. Recently interviewed by InsiderHoops.com, Marks describes how he grew up in a markedly different…
Promoting Touch
New Zealander Miles Darby, 46, IT project manager at Credit Suisse Singapore, is also president of the city’s amateur Monsoon Touch Football Club. Darby has been playing the sport in Singapore for over a…
A New Deal
Phillip Alder of the New York Times describes “a tied world record,” charting out an exceedingly rare occurrence at last year’s national bridge congress in Hamilton, 60 miles south of Auckland. “New Zealand is…
Birdies for a win
Rotorua golfing sensation Danny Lee, 18, the world’s No 1 amateur, has won the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth finishing 17-under-par with a one-stroke victory, the youngest player to win a professional European Tour…
Faster than Lightning
New Zealander Jock Freemantle’s $1 million Hulme CanAm supercar, named after racing driver and 1967 Formula One world champion Denis “Denny” Hulme, is, writes Britain’s Times Online, “a machine with the power to rival…
All Aboard with Coutts
BMW Oracle’s Wellington-born helmsman Russell Coutts is “matching wits and tacks with Luna Rossa helmsman Peter Holmberg” in the 10-team Pacific Series on the Waitemata Harbour, with 18th man, journalist Christopher Clarey onboard taking…
We’re Still Sailing
6 February 2009 – Auckland’s Louis Vuitton Pacific Cup is underway with two preliminary round robins leading up to a challenger final in which one team will advance to face Dean Barker’s Emirates Team…
Courting Comparison
New Zealand netball is the “main ‘girl’s game'” and has a “‘World Championships’ that only Australia and New Zealand can realistically win,” writes Frank Shanly in a profile about the sport in Indiana daily…
Australasian Citizenship
Wellington-born David Kirk, former All Black captain and chief executive of Fairfax, is now an Australian citizen. Kirk, skipper of the World Cup winners in the inaugural 1987 tournament, confirmed he would always…
Speed Demon’s Dream
Wellington entrepreneur Richard Nowland is the man behind the only jet-powered car ever designed and built in New Zealand. Nowland purchased a Rolls-Royce Avon 206 turbojet engine and intends to transform it into New…
Viva Vettori
At 30, Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori is “a veteran among the greats” according to International Herald Tribune writer Huw Richards, “and like Joe DiMaggio in baseball and the Australian rugby players David Campese…
Speed Demoness
New Zealand racing star Christina Orr will be competing in this year’s Bathurst 12 Hour Race, driving for Jim Hunter Motorsport. The 2008 Bruce McLaren New Zealand Driver of the Year will be teaming…
Medals From the Velodrome
Christchurch omnium champion Hayden Godfrey, 30, has won gold at the Beijing UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic series. Godfrey beat Great Britain’s Chris Newton in the men’s 60-lap, 15km scratch race final. New…
Vettori one of the best
Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori, 29, is ranked amongst the top International bowlers on the ICC Player Rankings for One Day International bowlers. The left-arm spinner took six wickets at an impressive average of 12.33 in the…
An Honourable Year
New Zealand’s 2008 Beijing contingent was well represented in the New Year’s Honours list and included Christchurch Paralympics swimmer Sophie Pascoe, 16, board sailor Tom Ashley and shot putter Valerie Vili. In total, seven…
Out on a Win
Champion Taranaki jockey Greg Childs, 46, is retiring from a 30-year career which began in New Zealand in the 1970s as an apprentice and ended with a win in the Bounty Hawk Handicap on…
Steve Enlivens the Game
Wellington-born caddy Steve Williams has “outraged” everyone “in this politically correct world”, but not the writers at the New York Daily News who say rather than offending anyone, Williams has “spiced up a rivalry…
Tall Fern Makes UConn
Auckland basketball player Jessica McCormack, 19, who was the youngest member of the New Zealand team at the Beijing Olympics this year, now plays for the top-ranked University of Connecticut (UConn) as a…
Top Spot for Teen
Oakura surf champion Paige Hareb, 18, has earned herself a spot on the professional $US1 million World Championship Tour, one of only 18 places for the world’s top female surfers. From the 2008 Reef…
Rugby’s Slam Dunk
The All Blacks have won their third Grand Slam and the inaugural Sir Edmund Hillary Shield beating England at Twickenham 32-6. In The Independent Hugh Godwin writes: “The clever clogs who got rid of…
Definitely No Regrets
The Kiwis dismissed the sceptics and the Kangaroos to win the Rugby League World Cup in Brisbane, beating the Australians 34-20, their first ever World Cup win. Outside of the New Zealand camp, few…
Cambodian Stint Rewarded
World aerobics champion Botany Downs local Angela McMillan, 28, has been in Phnom Penh coaching the Cambodian men’s team ahead of December’s Asian Aerobic Gymnastics Championships in Bangkok. McMillan, who claimed the world title…
AB Supporters Take Heed
New Zealander and London-based publisher Martin Moodie was “probably one of only 500 in the 26,000 strong crowd” at Limerick’s Thomond Park when the All Blacks played Munster, “ and was honoured to be…
Te Rauparaha’s War Cry
The all-Maori team first performed a haka against Surrey in Richmond in 1888 where they, according to theIllustrated London News, “cavorted about in ostrich-feather capes and tassell’d caps in a device of novelty and…
Women’s Open Confirmed
Wellington golfer Sarah Nicholson and Aucklander Liz McKinnon will be two of 20 New Zealand and Australian players in a total field of 144 to appear at the inaugural New Zealand Women’s Open staged…
Looking Back to Black
Former All Black hooker Anton Oliver, 33, is now studying at Oxford University for an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management, but he’ll play “one more decent game” against Cambridge in the Nomura Varsity…
Rugby’s Poster Boy
All Black fly-half Dan Carter, who recently made number 11 on American network E! Entertainment channel’s list of the 25 Sexiest Men of the World, this week also featured in CNN’s Talk Asia series….
Southpaw Inducted
Carterton-born golfer Sir Bob Charles, 72, has been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the veterans category – the Hall of Fame’s first New Zealander, and its first left-hander. Charles won…
Winning Ways
Former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick has been asked to take part in a one-on-one mentoring initiative with a group of young Scotland players. Fitzpatrick will be linked with Ross Ford, the present Scotland…
Trumps in Mexico
Whangarei triathlete Sam Warriner, 37, took gold at the Huatulco BG World Cup in Mexico and with the win becomes the 2008 BG Triathlon World Cup series champion. Warriner was victorious in a time…
Sailing Event Makes NZ
Lake Rotorua will host the 2009 IFDS World Blind Sailing Championships from 12-21 March. Organizing committee chairman Don McGowan says the goal is to provide a world class regatta, combined with a true New…
Eight Points Up
Wanganui teenage racing driver Earl Bamber has taken a podium finish at China’s Formula 1 Grand Prix meeting in Shanghai, repeating his recent result as part of the A1 New Zealand team in the…
Triumph for the Ferns
The Silver Ferns have won the deciding netball test against England 61-22 in the best of three series final in Palmerston North. Both teams came out firing on Saturday night but it was the…
Dixon’s Big Apple Re-run
On 23 October 1983, Nelson-born middle distance runner Rod Dixon raced past UK-emigrant Geoff Smith and won the New York City Marathon raising his hands to the sky in victory. The winning snapshot is…
Flight from the Top
New Zealand world and Guinness record skydiver Wendy Smith was one of three daredevils to leap from an aircraft at a record height of 9000m in the skies above Mount Everest, free-falling for one minute…
Fleecing the Competition
New Zealand took home four of the six titles at the 13th Golden Shears World Championships held in Bjerkrheim, Norway, with Stratford farmer Paul Avery, 41 and Napier shearer John Kirkpatrick, 38, coming first…
Amateur Golfer Impresses
New Zealand geologist David Pocknall, 55, who is now based in the United States, is also an avid golfer winning a Texan club championship six times and now looking to claim the 2008 Men’s…
Wazza’s Gallic Reinvention
Toulouse No 9, Byron Kelleher says that moving to France was the best thing he ever did and though he misses the All Blacks, he has opened another chapter in his life. After 10…
Top Honours in Toulouse
Dunedin-born Byron Kelleher, 31, former All Black and now scrum-half for French team Toulouse, has been voted the Top 14’s player of the season, succeeding Stade Francais’ Argentinean Juan Martin Hernandez. Kelleher scored three…
Willis’ Photo Finish
Olympic bronze medallist Lower Hutt athlete Nick Willis, 25, has won New York’s Fifth Avenue Mile, a race which John Walker won in 1984. Michigan-based Willis finished in 3 minutes, 50.5 seconds to…
Emotional Win
The All Blacks have retained the Tri-Nations title for the fourth successive year, beating the Wallabies 28-24 in Brisbane. Sustained by the brilliance of captain Richie McCaw and also Rodney So’oialo, the All Blacks…
Renewing the Fervour
Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour will fill with spectator boats early next year when six America’s Cup teams take to the water in a match racing series. Called the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, competitors will race…
Teen Bags Four Medals
Christchurch 15-year-old Sophie Pascoe – the youngest participant at the Beijing Paralympics – has won four medals: golds in the 200m individual medley, in the 1m breaststroke and 100m backstroke and a silver medal in the…
Series Victory for Dixon
Aucklander Scott Dixon has won his second IndyCar Series championship at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Though Brazilian Helio Castroneves won the race by .0033 of a…
Hareb Catches Some Ricos
Taranaki surfer Paige Hareb, 18, the No. 2 ranked women’s junior professional (under-20) in the world, has won the Port Stevens Pro Junior Series Event in NSW. Hareb is having a good year with…
Taking on the Chutes
The fourth annual Volkl NZ Freeski Open held at Treble Cone in late August, marking the season opener of the international ski calendar, saw Dunedin’s Alastair Eason and Wanaka’s Janina Kuzma take the top…
Celebrating the Centurions
Dunedin-born Glenn Turner, one of ten living batsmen to have achieved 100 first-class centuries, was honoured at London’s Hilton Hotel, where Turner’s bat, amongst other memorabilia, was auctioned for charity with a bid of NZ$13,937. The…
Ambition at the Stoop
North Shore-raised former All-Black Nick Evans, 27, now fly-half for English side the Harlequins, could be the player the team needs to help them clinch a top four spot in the Guinness Premiership. So…
Golf’s Rising Star
Rotorua schoolboy Danny Lee, 18, has the golfing world at his feet after becoming the youngest player ever to win the US Amateur championship, held at the Pinehurst club in North Carolina last week….
On Board for Gold
World champion Auckland windsurfer Tom Ashley, 24, sailed past his rivals, to claim first place in the men’s competition and a gold medal, the third won by the New Zealand Olympic contingent in Beijing….
From Within the Soul
Lower Hutt runner Nick Willis surged forward in the final moments of the men’s 1500m for third place, in a race Willis’ University of Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said the 25-year-old “always had the…
In Search of a History
New Zealand film producer and public speaker Anna Wilding is now writing regularly for the TennisGrandStand site, and in her first column, as the US Open approaches, she writes about her great uncle, tennis…
Four Years Pays Off
Athens silver medallist triathlete Bevan Docherty, 31, took third place and a bronze medal in the men’s triathlon at the Beijing Olympics and is determined to try for the gold in four years time….
