Plenty Of Medals For Kiwis At Arafura Games

The Paralympics New Zealand team returned home with plenty of medals and good results from the recent Arafura Games, incorporating the Oceania Paralympic championships in Darwin.

In total there were 10 medals from the eight-athlete team with Southland’s Jessica Hamill winning gold in three throwing events - shot put, discus and javelin. Hamill was also a competitor at last years’ Beijing Paralympic Games.

The other gold medal winners were Wellington’s Samantha Eddie in women’s handcycle Road Race and the women’s Time Trial.

Athens paralympians, Jacqueline Courtier(Waikato) and Tiffiney Perry(Waikato) won the women’s tennis doubles title with Courtier also taking away the singles gold and Perry the silver as well.

Canterbury shooter, Grant Philip gained a silver medal in the Air Rifle Prone and a bronze in the Air Rifle Standing.

“It was the first time at an international event for some of our athletes who all got something out of it. Overall it was a great event with a fine effort for Jess to come away with three gold medals and the Waikato tennis players too winning three medals between them. There was surprisingly a broad range of countries at the event and it was also nice for our athletes to compete in 30 degree plus weather,” says team manager Deb Shattock.

Since 1991, Arafura Games has been held every two years in the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, Darwin. Unlike other Games, Arafura Games is not designed for current world beaters or Olympic champions, instead it provides a high quality stepping stone for athletes as part of their journey to compete at the highest level. The Oceania Paralympic Championships were first incorporated into the Arafura Games in 2007.

Results (New Zealand only medal results):
Arafura Games, Darwin, Australia:
Gold - Jessica Hamill(Southland), javelin, shot put, discus, Samantha Eddie(Wellington) handcycle road race, time trial, Jacqueline Courtier(Waikato) and Tiffiney Perry(Waikato) tennis – women’s doubles, Courtier, gold - singles, silver medals – Grant Philip(Canterbury), air rifle prone, Perry – silver, bronze medals – Philip – air rifle standing.

The team was:

Athletics
Jessica Hamill(Southland), Rebecca Hayman(Southland / Canterbury), Daryl Humberstone(Canterbury), Cycling - Samantha Eddie(Wellington), Jonathan Nelson(Canterbury), Shooting - Grant Philip(Canterbury), Wheelchair Tennis - Tiffiney Perry(Waikato), Jacqueline Courtier(Waikato).