Ferns into series with hoop and holler
Rowing The early signs are not encouraging but don’t think Mahe Drysdale might give up his attempt to win New Zealand’s single sculling seat for the Tokyo Olympics.
Drysdale is 39, has won three Olympic single scull medals, including back-to-back golds in London and Rio six and two years ago respectively, bronze in Beijing in 2008. He will be 41 when Tokyo arrives.
To get there he has a heap of hurdles to clear, not least beating encumbent Robbie Manson, against whom he will row head to head at the Lucerne World Cup regatta in July. To the winner goes the world championship ticket in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in September.
It has shades of the DrysdaleRob Waddell row-off at Lake Karapiro for the single seat in 2008. Sydney 2000 Olympic champion Waddell’s bid ended as a bout of atrial fibrillation stopped him in the third and deciding clash.
Drysdale took last year off after Rio, when he won gold by the slimmest of margins, clocking 6m 41.340s, the same time as Croatian Damir Martin. Drysdale won it in less than a blink.
Now Rowing New Zealand have set up another mano a mano scenario.
Manson won two World Cup regattas last year, one in a world best time of 6m 30.740s before finishing fifth in the worlds final, hit by illness and battling the effects of an injury arriving at the worst time.
So far this season Manson has held sway. He bagged the North Island club championships title at Lake Karapiro. Drysdale was fifth, almost 14s back; that followed Manson winning the Christmas regatta at the same venue by about the same margin.
Drysdale is hugely impressed by Manson’s form, but not fazed. He fully expects to be challenging hard at the crunch point of the season; remember he has made a habit of charging home in the second half of major races for the last 10 years.
“Training has been really positive. All the number in training are looking really good but I haven’t been able to find that top-end speed and that’s been a little frustrating,” Drysdale said.
“I knew it was going to take time; it’s just taking longer than
I had hoped but
I’m still very confident it will come back.”
The Netball The Silver Ferns plan to break their silence on the court during next week’s Taini Jamison Trophy Series.
The Ferns have come off two tough training camps in Dunedin and Wellington where, according to captain Katrina Grant, one of the more important aspects they worked on was being more verbal on the court.
“We’ve been working on giving each other honest feedback . . . and always talking, as it’s quite a quiet group on the court,” Grant said.
“If we can constantly talk on the court, then in pressure situations, hopefully it means we will be able to carry that on and be able to give each other feedback.
“Good or bad, we need to step that up and tell each other — we don’t have time for anyone to sit back with Comm Games so close.
“We all want a gold medal and the best way to do that is to be open and honest in every way we can.”
The Silver Ferns were disappointing in the failed defence of their Northern Netball Quad Series title Wednesday, March 21
6.10pm: Jamaica v Fiji
8.10pm: New Zealand v Malawi
Thursday, March 22
6.10pm: Fiji v Malawi
8.10pm: New Zealand v Jamaica
Friday, March 23
6.10pm: Jamaica v Malawi
8.10pm: New Zealand v Fiji
Saturday, March 24 earlier this year, leaving some fans in doubt of Commonwealth gold.
Grant said they would continue to view their losses as “learning experiences” and approach next week’s series as an opportunity to further prepare for the Games. “Everything we are doing is to work up to the Comm Games, that’s what the ultimate goal is for us, and Taini Jamison is a time for us to nail them and make sure of that,” she said.
“In those four games we’re just going to practice and practice, and just
Hmake sure we are sticking to the same thing and doing it for 60 minutes, because that’s what we’ve had to work on a lot.”
New Zealand’s preparation for the series — which features Malawi Queens, Jamaica Sunshine Girls and Fiji Pearls — has been hampered by some late injury-enforced changes.
Shooter Maia Wilson and midcourter Claire Kersten have been called into the team as injury cover. Wilson, who has seven test caps, has been included in the side with shooters Ameliaranne Ekenasio and vice-captain Maria Folau both to be managed through the series.
Kersten, who made her Silver Ferns debut last year, is a late inclusion as cover for wing defence Kayla Cullen, who has been ruled out with a knee injury.
Ekenasio, recalled into the national team after taking time away from the game to start a family, has a finger injury, while Folau continues her comeback from a niggling knee complaint. Cullen will sit out the fourday series due to a knee injury, but is expected to make a full recovery in time for next month’s Commonwealth Games.