Largest Ever Contingent to Represent New Zealand at the 2016

Largest Ever Contingent to Represent New Zealand at the 2016

World Ultimate Championships

NZ to be represented in all five divisions for the first time.

104 kiwi athletes and 10 support staff have gathered in London this week to prepare for the 2016 World Ultimate Championships. The tournament will be held at the UCL Sports Ground in North London from 18-25 June with the finals to be played at Allianz Park, home of the Saracens Rugby Club.

For the first time, New Zealand will be represented in all five divisions – Men’s, Women’s, Mixed, Men’s Masters and Women’s Masters. In total over 4000 athletes from 39 countries will challenge for the five world titles at stake.

The New Zealand teams will be looking to build on the results at the previous world championships held in 2012 in Sakai, Japan. The Men’s team narrowly missed out on a quarter-final in that event, finishing 9 th out of 19 teams. The Women’ team finished 8 th out of 18 teams while the Masters team finished 6 th out of 8 teams.

The biggest challenge facing the teams will be the unknown strength of the other competing teams. “We are very isolated in New Zealand”, says New Zealand Ultimate Executive Officer Iain Stewart. “The only international competition we get is the World Championships every four years. But we are looking forward to measuring our skills against the rest of the world, and hoping to see our teams in the quarter-finals for a shot at the knock-out games”.

The tournament is an important event for the World Flying Disc Federation, who are seeking the inclusion of Ultimate on the 2024 Summer Olympic programme after gaining IOC recognition in 2015.

Twenty games on two showcase fields will be live-streamed over the internet featuring multi-camera coverage and live commentary in an effort to draw viewers to prove to the IOC that Ultimate could be a popular addition to the Olympic Games. The New Zealand Women’s team will feature in the first broadcast of the opening showcase game on Sunday night New Zealand time and the Mixed team will also be screened (Monday morning NZ time).

New Zealand teams and their initial pools (listed in order of seeding):

NZ Men (31 teams total): Belgium, New Zealand, Czech Republic, China

NZ Women (26 teams total): Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Hong Kong

NZ Mixed (30 teams total): Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Portugal

NZ Masters (17 teams total): Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Belgium

NZ Women’s Masters (11 teams total): USA, Japan, Germany, France, New Zealand

ends

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