NZ Regional Championships 2019

This last weekend, the Wellington League was on break while the NZHF has invited all regions to compete at the New Zealand Regional Championships in Christchurch.

First of all, huge thank you to Canterbury Handball for organising and running the event. Without those volunteers working relentlessly to create an awesome tournament.

NZ Handball community at NZ Regional Champs 2019
NZ Handball community at NZ Regional Champs 2019

You will probably ask now”how did it go?” and from a Wellington perspective, it went great. Both Wellington teams won all their games and therefore are the big winners of the tournament.
While the men team dominated each competition, the women games were a bit closer but still the Wellington girls came out on top.
The Wellington region is blessed with such an amount of talent and work done by volunteers to keep growing, and at this tournament, you could see that all the hard work led to success.
But all other participating regions – Auckland, Canterburry and Otago – showed also that Handball is growing in their regions and that they were there to compete.

Results – Men
Canterbury B vs Otago 44:25
Auckland vs Canterbury A 34:25
Wellington vs Canterbury B 47:19
Auckland vs Otago 53:25
Wellington vs Canterbury A 44:27
Auckland vs Canterbury B 38:29
Wellington vs Otago 52:27
Canterbury A vs Canterbury B 36:25
Wellington vs Auckland 38:21
Canterbury B vs Otago 42:20

  1. Wellington – 8 points, +87
  2. Auckland – 6 points, +29
  3. Canterbury A – 4 points, +7
  4. Canterbury B – 2 points, -29
  5. Otago – 0 points, -94

Results – women
Canterbury vs Auckland/Otago 28:22
Wellington vs Auckland/Otago 24:14
Wellington vs Canterbury 28:26
Canterbury vs Auckland/Otago 30:18
Wellington vs Auckland/Otago 24:18
Wellington vs Canterbury 26:18

  1. Wellington – 8 points, +26
  2. Canterbury – 4 points, +8
  3. Auckland/Otago – 0 points, -34

Congratulations to all Vikings players who represented Wellington!
Paul Ireland, Harry Ireland, Miguel Aizpuru, Alexander Bickers, Madeleine Hazelton, Michaela Jensen, Inga Zuzevičiūtė

Team Wellington 2019 - women
Team Wellington 2019 at the NZ Regional Championships (women)
Back row (left to right): Coach Fred Han, Laura Macready, Taylor Noble , Maddy Hazelton, Bella Anastasiou, Michaela Jensen, Valerie Chan, Erin Roxburgh, Maddie Stephen
Front row (left to right): La Winitana, Meli Plit, Inga Zuzevičiūtė, Abbey LÉstrange, Rowan Moloughney, Kathleen Griffin
Team Wellington 2019 - men
Team Wellington 2019 at the NZ Regional Championships (men)
Back row (left to right): Coach Daniel Triebsch, Harry Ireland, Tim Rayner, Paul Ireland, Scott Balmforth, Nicholas Potter, Antoine Desnos, Jack Gallagher
Front row (left to right): Tim Banks, Alexander Bickers, Thomas Roxburgh, Yoshi Watanabe, Miguel Aizpuru, James Cochrane
Missing: Luke Naylor