Latest - Athletics New Zealand have won the scramble for teenage sprint sensation Edward Osei-Nketia.
Athletics New Zealand are excited teenage sprint sensation Edward Osei-Nketia has committed to the organisation, saying he could give a lot of exposure to the sport.
When Osei-Nketia won the senior men's 100m at the Australian National championships last month, it sparked a lot of interest here and across the Tasman.
Athletics Australia made a last-ditch bid to convince the New Zealand-born star to wear the green and gold at international level.
There was also plenty of interest from rugby codes in the 17-year-old.
Nketia spent eight years in Canberra before moving back to Wellington last year to finish his schooling.
Athletics New Zealand high performance director Scott Goodman said Osei-Nketia had accepted his position in the New Zealand team for the Oceania Championships, being held at the end of June.
A young man in demand. Teenage sprint star Edward Osei-Nketia. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2019 / Alisha Lovrich
Scott McLaughlin wins latest Supercar event
New Zealand Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin has joined an exclusive club of drivers with 10 or more race wins in a season after leading home a DJR Team Penske one-two at Winton in Victoria.
McLaughlin stretched his championship lead to 244 points with this afternoon's wire-to-wire win, his 10th from 14 races in 2019.
Teammate, fellow Kiwi, and main championship rival Fabian Coulthard came home second in DJR Team Penske's sixth one-two finish of a dominant season.
Jamie Whincup finished third but, until a late safety car tightened up the field, he was trailing the two Fords by about 11 seconds as they charged off into the distance.
- AAP
Supercars driver Scott McLaughlin Photo: Edge Photographics
Coles back for Hurricanes
Captain Dane Coles is back in the Hurricanes squad for their two match Super Rugby tour of South Africa after being sidelined with a calf injury.
The experienced loose forward Gareth Evans is also back after recovering from the same injury.
Coles last featured for the Hurricanes in their round five match against the Chiefs while Evans has not played since the round two match against the Crusaders.
The pair played club rugby in Wellington yesterday and satisfied coach John Plumtree that they were ready to make the two-match tour.
The Hurricanes, who are second in the New Zealand Conference, play the Sharks and Lions while they're away.
Raptors into NBA Finals against Warriors
The Toronto Raptors rallied past the Milwaukee Bucks 100-94 to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.
The Raptors won the best-of-seven series 4-2 and will challenge the Golden State Warriors for the NBA crown after winning the Eastern Conference finals.
Kawhi Leonard led scoring for Toronto, racking up 27 points with 17 rebounds, while, for the Bucks, fellow superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 21 and had 11 rebounds.
Golden State had already beaten the Portland Trail Blazers to reach the NBA Finals, which begin on Thursday.
- PA
Highlanders beaten
The Highlanders have dropped out of a Super Rugby play-off position after losing 34-22 to the Stormers in Cape Town.
Photo: Photosport
The Stormers kept up their playoff hopes by scoring four tries to three.
The Stormers, who started the weekend bottom of the South African conference, were 17-3 ahead at half-time after tries from new scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies and captain Siya Kolisi.
The Highlanders, also needing points in search of a playoff berth, scored second-half tries through Patelesio Tomkinson, Waisake Naholo and Siate Tokolahi.
But the Stormers always keep themselves ahead as lock Cobus Wiese and substitute Jean-Luc du Plessis also went over.
The Highlanders stay on 29 points which has them in tenth place.
- Reuters
Gold for Carrington
New Zealand paddlers have won two gold medals on the first day of finals at the opening Canoe Sprint World Cup meeting in Poland.
Lisa Carrington competing at the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Portugal. Photo: Photosport
Lisa Carrington unleashed yet another vintage performance to strike gold in the K1 200m and maintain her stunning seven-year unbeaten sequence.
Para canoeist Scott Martlew won the men's KL2 200m final.
Carrington quickly assumed control of her race and powered away to an emphatic victory in a time 38.772 - more than a full boat length ahead of her nearest opposition.
"Today racing was pretty tough. We had windy conditions, although it did help with the times as they were pretty quick," added Carrington.
"The competition at this regatta has been awesome. We've got to race the best paddlers in the world."
Martlew made a blistering start to his final and quickly established a lead he was not to relinquish.
An elated Martlew said: "The final felt amazing from the get go. I felt really strong out of the blocks and I kept progressing the lead to the finish.
The K2 500m combination of Aimee Fisher and Caitlin Ryan narrowly missed out on a medal by placing fifth in the A Final.
Carrington is also in the K1 500 final and K4 500, while Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie will compete in the K2 1000 final.
Silver for Meech
New Zealand sailor Sam Meech has finished second at the European Laser Championship in Porto.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The 28-year-old went into the day in sixth place and not knowing if a medal was realistic, but won the first race of the day and backed it up with a seventh to sneak ahead of Great Britain's Lorenzo Chiavarini in third.
Australian Matthew Wearn took out the regatta meaning it was the same one-two finish from the recent Hyeres regatta.
In fact, Meech has collected silver at all three events he's competed in this year which goes a long way to explaining why he's presently ranked No 1 in the world.
Fellow Kiwi George Gautrey finished 10th in Porto and Tom Saunders was 15th to highlight the strength of the present New Zealand Laser squad.
Meech's medal rounds out a very successful period of European championships for New Zealand's Olympic class sailors. It started with Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox finishing third at the 470 European championships and followed with Andy Maloney's silver at the Finn Europeans and gold to Peter Burling and Blair Tuke at the 49er event.
"I'm stoked with that," Meech said of his silver medal. "I knew I needed a good day and wasn't 100 percent sure it was possible so I just kept trying until the end and made up for my first day of gold fleet which wasn't so good. It's another good end to the trip.
All Black Sevens into London quarter-finals
The New Zealand rugby sevens team has scored two wins a loss in pool play at the London leg of the World Series.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The All Blacks Sevens beat Scotland 21-7 and Ireland 34-7 but lost 17-12 to England.
It means they will play France in the quarter-finals, while South Africa play Australia, the USA play Canada and Fiji play Ireland.
By reaching the quarter-finals the New Zealanders have confirmed their place at next year's Olympics as they will now finish in the top four in the World Series.
Coll beaten in semi-finals
New Zealander Paul Coll has been beaten in the semifinals of the British Squash Open by world number one Ali Farag of Egypt.
Paul Coll Photo: Photosport
With the odds against him in head-to-head matches Coll took the match to Farag who had won the last seven meeting between the pair, including having beaten Coll four times in the 2018-2019 season.
Farag won 3-2 in 77 minutes against the fifth seed from Greymouth.
In what has already been regarded as the match of the tournament Farag was full of praise and exhausted afterwards.
"It is unfair to talk about it [this match] in just a few sentences. It is one of those matches that you are going to remember forever," Farag admitted. "Win or lose, you would have been proud to have been a part of it. I think Paul and I represented our sport very well and we did our sport proud. "
For 27-year-old Coll the next tournament is set to be the PSA World Tour Finals in Cairo, Egypt where the top eight ranked players take part. That ends the international season before he returns to New Zealand for the national champs at Unitec in Auckland 27-30 June.
Hamilton on pole
Lewis Hamilton has celebrated an emotional pole position for dominant Mercedes at the Monaco Grand Prix, with teammate Valtteri Bottas joining the Formula One leader in a front row sweep.
The record-extending 85th pole of the Briton's stellar career and his second of the season came as the sport mourns the death of triple world champion and Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda.
The team look set to deliver a perfect tribute to the Austrian in tomorrow's race in the shape of a sixth successive one-two finish, with Ferrari out of sorts on a shambolic afternoon.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified third and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel will line up fourth after narrowly avoiding going out in the opening phase.
A glaring error by Ferrari denied Charles Leclerc the chance to shine at home, with the 21-year-old failing to make it through the first phase and qualifying only 16th after going fastest in final practice.
Verstappen's teammate Pierre Gasly qualified fifth with Kevin Magnussen sixth for Haas and Australia's Daniel Ricciardo, last year's winner for Red Bull, seventh in a Renault.
Toro Rosso had two cars in the top 10, with Daniil Kvyat eighth and Alexander Albon 10th. McLaren's Carlos Sainz lines up between them in ninth.
-Reuters
Black Caps beat India
Second-favourites India's World Cup preparations have suffered a setback as New Zealand handed them a six-wicket defeat at The Oval.
Only a half-century from Ravindra Jadeja spared his side's blushes as he restored some pride from a perilous 91 for 7.
Their total of 179 all out - with Trent Boult (4-33) and James Neesham (3-26) doing the damage - was never enough to trouble their opponents.
The removal of Colin Munro and Martin Guptil with just 37 on the board gave India some hope but captain Kane Williamson (67) and Ross Taylor put on 114 for the third wicket to take the game away from them.
Taylor guided them to within a run of victory before he popped up a simple catch and departed for 71 off 75 balls but the win was completed from the first ball of the 38th over.
-AAP
Carapaz takes Giro lead
Ecuadorean Richard Carapaz launched a solo attack 28km from the end of a mountainous 14th stage to seize the leader's pink jersey from Jan Polanc in the Giro d'Italia.
The Movistar rider rode away over the summit of the Colle San Carlo and built his lead to the finish line.
In the general classification, he now leads Primoz Roglic by seven seconds with home favourite Vincenzo Nibali third, one minute 47 seconds adrift.
Stage 15 is a 232km ride from Ivrea to Como over the Madonna del Ghisallo and Civiglio climbs.
-Reuters
