Coach expects more from NZ CWG swim team

New Zealand swimming coach Mark Regan will demand his charges handle pressure better after what he believed were some disappointing results at the national open championships held in west Auckland last week.

A team of 12 was yesterday named to represent New Zealand at October's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.

To make it into the squad swimmers had to reach times which demonstrated they'd make it into the top six at the Games. After the announcement, Regan said he wanted to see more.

"I actually expected better," he told Sunday News. "I think the pressure got to them and that had a lot to do with it. They've got to deal with these situations a lot better and that's what I'll try to do over the next couple of months – put them under extreme pressure so they handle it better."

Regan said he would do this by using tough workouts, stiff competition and revising the expectations placed on them, believing they are struggling to cope with the pressure they're putting on themselves.

"They all look at the result more than the process – the process of doing the race the best way instead of looking at it as being a mountain that's too high to climb.

"We've just got to change our mindset, but that's do-able. I'm excited by them. They're a good team of individuals. They can all improve, can all go better."

New Zealand's elite swimmers have also come in for stick from Sparc, who are demanding better results for the money spent.

If they fail to deliver in Delhi the funding for the high-performance swimming programme may be cut but Regan says it's not something he's losing sleep over.

"I don't feel that pressure myself and I don't want the swimmers to feel that pressure. All Sparc or anyone in New Zealand can expect is for the swimmers to do the absolute best they can."

Standout swimmer from the national champs in Henderson was Daniel Bell, who did enough to be able to compete in the backstroke over 50m, 100m and 200m in Delhi.

"I'm pretty happy with how I swam here," Bell said. "I didn't quite get the times I was looking for but the goal was to qualify and I've done that."

Backstroker Melissa Ingram says the team will have to be careful how they handle the conditions in India.

"We're going to have to be onto it and be watchful about what we eat, learn about the culture and try to adapt to the best of our ability," she said. "Also being careful of things like Delhi belly."

Daniel Bell makes it to CWG

New Zealand’s teenaged Olympian backstroke ace Daniel Bell rang a warning to his rivals after qualifying for the Commonwealth Games at the New Zealand Swimming championships in Auckland on Wednesday.

According to reports in the New Zealand media, Bell qualified in the 200m backstroke by clocking a personal best time of 1:58.96 to go under the qualifying mark for the Games by half a second. It raised the number of Games qualifiers from New Zealand after two days of the championships to four.

Bell led from the start but was pushed all the way by former national record holder Gareth Kean, with the pair going through the midway mark in 57 seconds when Bell was 4/10ths of a second off Kurt Bassett's New Zealand record.

“I am really happy with that. The 200 is not my main race so to get a qualifying time in that relieves a lot of pressure for the 100. I am now looking forward and upwards,” Bell said. “I will go back and look at the splits but obviously it's the fastest time that I've done before and it's been two years since I have done this event seriously. I've only been training for this for five months so I am really pleased.

“It's a real confidence boost leading up to the Commonwealth Games. All of the top backstrokers in the world are now swimming the 200m. It helps with some back end endurance for the 100m. Hopefully now I can produce a top time in the 100m and give some of the top backstrokers in the world a bit of a fright.”

Emily Thomas and Glenn Snyders missed qualification by only fractions from the target times in the women’s 100m backstroke and men’s 200m breaststroke respectively. Thomas won the 100m backstroke in 1:01.51, one-fifth of a second off the qualifying time for Delhi. Snyders won the 200m breaststroke in 2:13.55sec, 13/100ths of a second off the qualifying mark.

Snyders looked set to better the qualifying standard at the 150m mark but faded a fraction coming home. “I was where I wanted to be but should have been able to bring it home. And I should have glided at the end instead of taking that extra stroke which cost me,” he said.

NZ Labour party stands up against terror threat

The Labour Party has backed the New Zealand hockey team’s decision to go to India next week and participate in October’s Commonwealth Games. This is despite of a threat made against every competing country’s athletes from militant Kashmiri groups with links to Al Qaeda.

Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Chris Carter said recent terror attacks in India, including last week’s bombing in Pune, meant threats have to be taken seriously in that country.

“However we have to recognise that almost every large international gathering now has some security risks,” Chris Carter said.

“Last night I spoke to the Secretary General of India’s ruling Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, and he assured me that internal security is a key priority of India’s Government, and he believes they are making good progress in spite of last week’s attack.

“The National-Act Government will need to liaise closely with India’s Government to ensure that all security measures have been taken to keep our visitors safe.

“Naturally our athletes and visitors to India will have to make a judgement call as to whether they are prepared to travel. However Labour believes that boycotting sporting events in India this year would give the terrorists the victory they are seeking, to disrupt India’s international sports programme.”

“Labour is standing by our athletes. We want them to be safe, but we also believe that they should participate in the various sporting events that will be occurring in India this year.”

CWG: NZ to train offshore due to pollution

New Zealand teams are planning a hit-and-run mission at October's Commonwealth Games in India, not because of security fears, but because of Delhi's high pollution.

A report by a leading sports scientist has warned New Zealand athletes to prepare offshore and fly to India as late as three days before their events, to minimise the effects of air pollution. Usually, athletes would spend a fortnight in the Games village before their events.

But, after visiting Delhi last October, New Zealand Academy of Sport performance physiologist Paul Laursen told national governing bodies they should instead prepare in Singapore, or alternatively in the Australian cities of Perth and Darwin.

"Beijing Olympics was considered pretty bad, so imagine almost two times that level of pollution in Delhi," Laursen told the Sunday Star-Times.

He said a recent report suggested pollution levels in Delhi of 144 ppm (parts per million) compared to 88 in Beijing. The city has more than four million vehicles and nearly half run on diesel, leading to high levels of carbon monoxide in the air. Forbes magazine recently rated Delhi the 24th dirtiest city in the world.

Laursen has investigated venues and facilities in Singapore, where Canada and Australia's Games' federations have already made bookings. Among individual athletes who plan to leave their arrival into Delhi late is star shotputter Valerie Vili, who is considering basing herself in Darwin.

"It's best not to arrive too soon," said Laursen. Singapore was chosen because it is slightly hotter than India, has relatively clean air, has direct flights to Auckland and Delhi, and is just a two-hour time change from Delhi.

Worst hit by the pollution will be endurance athletes competing outdoors. Laursen said he couldn't "even imagine" how competitors in the cycling road races would fare in such conditions.

Athletics New Zealand chief executive Scott Newman said the NZOC had been "very honest" in briefing sports about the issue, saying "we've got no problem" with individual athletes making their own travel plans.

Sky to telecast Commonwealth Games in NZ

Sky Television confirmed today that agreement has been reached with TVNZ to purchase the broadcast rights for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Games coverage will be available on SKY’s sport channels, free-to-air channel PRIME, the Internet and Mobile TV.

During the 12 days of the competition free-to-air channel PRIME will broadcast 12 hours each day of LIVE Games coverage together with a daily highlights package.

SKY will also dedicate five 24 hour channels to the Commonwealth Games – more than 1400 hours of television coverage. In addition to this, there will also be a two hour daily highlights package over the course of the games on SKY Sport, regular 30 minute updates on SKY’s Sport Highlights channel and extensive Internet and Mobile TV coverage.

John Fellet, Chief Executive, SKY Television said, “The combination of free-to-air and pay television coverage for a key sports event like the Commonwealth Games is a winner for all New Zealanders and will provide them with more extensive and comprehensive coverage than they have ever seen before.”

Beatrice Faumuina qualified for Commonwealth Games in New Delhi

Beatrice Faumuina has qualified for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi next year with her first foray of the season yesterday. Competing at the Battle of the Cities meeting at North Shore's Sovereign Stadium, in far from ideal conditions, the 1997 world champion was out to 56.09m, just over the performance standard for the Games of 56m.
Faumuina, gold medallist in the discus at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur and the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, was extremely pleased."It was my first outing in months, so I'm very happy," she said.

Instead of training over winter offshore, Faumuina and her coach Ross Dallow decided on a solid build-up in Auckland.

"We made the decision really early that it was a good idea to stay home and have a really heavy winter and I haven't even backed off that phase yet as much as I'd like to," she added.

Faumuina is ranked 44th in the world and third in the Commonwealth this year with her New Zealand title throw of 60.03m in Wellington in March.

A total of 100 women athletes in the world have thrown over 56m this year but only nine are from the Commonwealth.

Australia's Dani Samuels, who won the world title at Berlin in August, heads the Commonwealth rankings with her title-winning throw of 65.44m.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Faumuina was fourth with a throw of 59.12m - well below her best - when she was expected to medal. At the Beijing Olympic Games she failed to make the final, finishing 28th.

She has also been a controversial figure. Her fourth at Melbourne did not go down well but it was her behaviour at Beijing that caused most upset. She became embroiled in a strange exchange with media and then agitated to go home early, rather than staying to support the team.

Dave Currie, the New Zealand team chef de mission, said she had to pay her own way home, upsetting Faumuina.

Currie said at the time all the New Zealand athletes were booked to fly home on a charter flight - as a team.

Those with post-Olympic competitions, such as professional football player Ryan Nelsen and road cyclist Julian Dean, had arranged to leave early before the games. Otherwise, athletes were meant to remain in Beijing as part of the team and travel home together, Currie said.

"People support you and you go out and support your mates," Currie said. "If Beatrice has gone, you'd have to say you're disappointed with her, but once somebody's gone, she's gone. The key right now is the team providing support for each other."

NZ to watch CWG at pay-per-view

New Zealanders' decades-long tradition of watching their top athletes compete at the Commonwealth Games on free-to-air television may be over. It was reported today that TVNZ had lost its 40-year grip on broadcasting the Games, to be held in India next year.

Pay television network Sky has apparently secured the rights to the Delhi Games after TVNZ had "thrown in the towel". However, both Sky and TVNZ staying mum this morning.

Sky Television director of communications Tony O'Brien would not field any questions on the broadcasting rights today. "We don't comment on media speculation," he said.

TVNZ corporate affairs spokeswoman Megan Richards could not be reached for comment.

New Zealand Olympic Committee secretary-general Barry Maister is in Ireland, but communications manager Ashley Abbott said the organisation "was not aware of any sale of rights".

MP Jim Anderton, who last year tried and failed to bring in a law to keep "iconic events" free-to-air, said it would be a "sad day" if the Games went to a pay TV network. "There are a lot of people the young, the old and those who can't afford it who are missing out on these iconic cultural events already." Mr Anderton said other countries had so-called "anti-siphoning laws" in place to protect events like the Commonwealth Games.

He said his bid to bring the same law to New Zealand last year, mainly for rugby and cricket tests, failed to get the numbers.

Former Commonwealth Games squash gold medallist Leilani Rorani, of Hamilton, was concerned that the event would be taken away from the public. "Not everyone will be able to watch the Commonwealth Games now. Lots of kids grew up in my generation being able to watch the Games. (They were) inspired because it wasn't pay TV."

Women's hockey team manager Debbie Balme said it would be disheartening to see the Games taken off free-to-air TV. "We're a sport that's trying to get ourselves out there."

Balme said the fact that next year's Games were in India meant that supporters would be hard pushed to make the journey and would be reliant on television coverage.