Hi all,

Last weekend we a break in our League schedule and instead we participated at the annual Wellington Open. The Tournament was now in it’s 9th edition and saw 5 men teams and 5 women teams competing for the Wellington Open Trophy.

Women Competition

The Vikings women team had nine players available and played in generally very well. Unfortunately little short comings prevented them from a win in this tournament. All girls improved from game to game and showed great passion and pride while staying competitive to opposition who was often highly more experienced.

Vikings HC vs Spartanz HC 6:9
Vikings HC vs The Expendables 12:21
Vikings HC vs Vic Uni HC 12:14
Vikings HC vs Hutt Hawks 11:18

For the Vikings women played:Mapihi; Laura, Lizzie, Alex, Catherine, Bridget, Ellie, Hannah O, Maddy

Congratulations to The Expendables for winning this year’s Wellington Open Women decision. The win was well deserved.

Men Competition

The Vikings men team was missing this Saturday three important players (Luke, Nico and Sam) and therefore faced some challenges with bench depth throughout the tournament. However, the team showed again how well they celebrate team handball and our younger players showed again their rising potential. The men team started with a win against the Spartanz and followed up with a nail-biter win against the Canterbury/Hutt Hawks team. Especially the defence showed great resilience and was present when we needed it. Special thanks here to our goalkeeper, Petr, who (again) saved us in some critical moments with crucial and heroic saves. In the third game versus Massey, the team started slow but half way through the first half we found our vibe and played in stretches effortless team handball. After three wins the tournament schedule provided a final like game in the last pool game of the day between the Vikings and their big Wellington rival from Vic Uni. Unfortunately for the Vikings, the missing bench depth showed and costed the team highly as Vic Uni were able to win clearly and deservedly the tournament.

Vikings HC vs Spartanz HC 22:13
Vikings HC vs Canterbury Braves HC /Hutt Hawks HC 13:12
Vikings HC vs Massey Mustangs HC 19:10
Vikings HC vs Vic Uni HC 6:14

For the Vikings men played: Petr; Jack, Harry, Todd, Pierre, Fred, Nino, Ben, Emmanuel and Daniel

Congratulations Victoria University to the win of the Wellington Open.

The Vikings Handball club thanks heaps our sponsors and supporters who who helped us to be as successful as possible.