Here is a press release that the Kiwi team has put out:

WHEEL BLACKS SET TO DEFEND OCEANIA TITLE
The New Zealand Wheelchair rugby team will defend its Oceania title in Sydney, Australia, next week.

The Wheel Blacks defeated Australia by one goal in triple extra time to win the title in South Africa in 2005, having been beaten by Australia by one goal in extra time in 2003.

Coach Grant Sharman said that as defending champions and being ranked No. 2 in the world behind the United States, who are not attending, the Wheel Blacks are worthy favourites.

“This will be a pretty tough tournament as the powerful Canadian team has been invited to compete and we have to play them first up.”

“While our line-up has been boosted by the return of Curtis Palmer, back from a shoulder operation earlier this year, the Australians have also bolstered their squad with two changes from the team we defeated 4 – 1 in the Chris Handy Cup last month,” he said.

Sharman also believes the Japanese will be a tough combination as they are ranked No. 5 in the world, while the appearance of China and Korea adds curiosity.

“This is the first time these two countries have competed in the Oceania tournament. Korea is improving but not all that competitive, while we are not sure of the Chinese. Reports would say that they will not be very strong, but with the emphasis they are putting on the Olympics and Paralympics we are preparing for a battle,” he said.

The team is: Dan Buckingham ©, Curtis Palmer, Tim Johnson, Gerry Tinker, Sholto Taylor, Steve Hannen, Dave Klinkhamer, Jai Waite.

New Zealand’s schedule is:

Tuesday, Nov 20: 12.30pm v Canada; 3.30pm v South Africa.

Wednesday, Nov 21: 12.30pm v Australia; 5.30pm v China

Thursday: 11am v Korea; 5.30pm v Japan

Friday Nov 23: Semi-finals: 11am 1st v 4th; 12.30pm 2nd v 3rd; 2pm 6th v 7th

Saturday, Nov 24: Finals: 10.30am 5th v 6th/7th winner; 12pm Bronze Medal; 2pm Gold Medal

Further information: Grant Sharman, coach, ph 021-2729088

John Durning
Managing Director
Durning Public Relations
105 Victoria Street
PO Box 25-309
Christchurch
ph (03) 365-2579
mobile 0274-373-286
fax (03) 377-7172
http://www.durningpr.co.nz

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Lineups for the 7-teams in the Oceania Zonals are:

1) NZL

1.0 WAITE, Jai
1.5 KLINKHAMER, Dave
2.0 FOULSHAM, Riki
2.0 HANNAN, Steve
2.0 JOHNSON, Tim ©
2.0 TAYLOR, Sholto
2.0 TINKER, Geremy
2.5 PALMER, Curtis
3.0 BUCKINGHAM, Dan

Coach / Entraîneur: SHARMAN, Grant


2) JAP

? KANNO, Kazuhiko
? NAGAYASU, Yu
? TAMURA, Manabu
0.5 TAKAHASHI, Yoshinobu
1.0 OGINO, Koichi
1.5 HAMANO, Kenji
2.0 SATO, Yoshito
2.0 MISAKA, Hiroyuki
2.0 MUROHASHI, Takuo
2.0 FUJISHIMA, Shingo
2.5 NAKAZATO, Shin
3.0 SHIMAKAWA, Shinichi

Coach / Entraîneur: SHIOZAWA, Yasuo


3) AUS

0.5 ERDEM, Nazim
0.5 SCOTT, Ryan
1.5 BRAND, Shane
2.0 ALMAN, Bryce
2.0 CARR, Cameron
2.0 SMITH, Greg
2.0 VITALE, Scott
2.5 BOXALL, Grant
2.5 PORTER, Steve ©
2.5 RYAN, Patrick
3.5 BATT, Ryley

Coach / Entraîneur: DUBBERLEY, Brad


4) RSA

? COETZEE, Nicky
? SITHOLE, Luca
0.5 DORFLING, Bennie ©
1.5 ADAMS, Mark
2.0 BUITENDAG, Victor
2.0 JACOBS, Koos
2.5 DLAMINI, Eric
3.0 TRUTER, Peter


5) KOR

0.5 CHOI, Jae Woong
0.5 PARK, Chan Soo
1.0 KO, Seung Bum
1.0 PARK, Young Ha
1.5 HONG, Tai Poy
2.0 SEO, Min Woo
2.5 CHANG SUN, Jeon
2.5 JONG DAE, Jeong
2.5 KIM, Hun Jung
2.5 KIM, So Young
3.0 LEE, Seung Hoo
3.0 PARK, Jin Soo

Coach / Entraîneur: JANG, Suk Whan


6) CHN

0.5 SHAO, De Quan
1.0 JI, Jian Hui
1.0 YU, Zhong Tao
1.0 ZHANG, Zheng
1.5 CHENG, Shuang Miao
2.0 TIAN, Shi Lin
2.5 SHEN, Yun Bo
2.5 ZHANG, Wen Li
3.0 PAN, Zi Lin
3.0 WHANG, Shen
3.0 HAN, Gui Fei
3.5 CHEN, Jun

Coaches / Entraîneurs: HUANG, Jian Wen, WEN, Yan, & YAN, Ying Hui


7) CAN

0.5 FUNK, Jared
0.5 PARADIS, Daniel
1.0 HIRSCHFIELD, Trevor
1.5 SIMARD, Patrice
2.0 LAROCQUE, Martin
2.0 LUANGKHAMDENG, Say
2.0 MURAO, Travis
2.0 WILLSIE, David ©
3.0 CHAN, Ian ©
3.0 LAVOIE, Fabien
3.0 WHITEHEAD, Mike
3.5 HICKLING, Garett

Coach / Entraîneur: LABRECQUE, Benoit

The complete tournament schedule is available on our site. Team Canada's first opponent are the Kiwis. We look forward to their haka, and the start of the Oceania Championships.

Don't worry about our low ranking, as the outcome of this tournament will not influence our Paralympic qualification. Thus, all of the Oceania teams have been seeded ahead of us.