Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games saw mana wāhine leading the way for Aotearoa, highlighted by a historic medal in 3x3 basketball.
Azure Anderson (Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Toa) and Eva Langton (Te Ātiawa, Taranaki) helped the wāhine’s 3x3 basketball team win the bronze medal.
It is Aotearoa’s first-ever Commonwealth Games basketball medal, across both the 5-on-5 and 3x3 formats, placing fourth at the 2022 Birmingham Games.
The team went unbeaten through pool play before losing to Uganda in the semi-final. They bounced back to defeat Jamaica 18-13 in the bronze medal match.
The tāne’s 3x3 basketball team narrowly missed the medal rounds, losing 18-16 to hosts Scotland in their bronze medal match.
The Silver Ferns continued their winning streak with a dominant 65-37 win over Wales, despite a nasty knee injury to star defender Catherine Hall. Their next match is against Trinidad & Tobago at 1.00AM Friday (NZT).
Ngāpuhi’s Georgia Theron made her Commonwealth Games weightlifting debut in the women’s 77kg division.
The 20 year-old completed her lifts with a smile and even bigger cheers from her whānau, namely her pāpā, proudly wearing his Warriors jersey.
She briefly sat in bronze medal position after lifting 123kg in the clean and jerk, and snatching 100kg - a personal best for Theron. She was pipped at the end by just 1kg as Canada’s Isabella Brown claimed third place.
Meanwhile in the puna kaukau, Ngāti Raukawa’s Chelsea Edwards finished seventh in the women’s 50m freestyle final, with a time of 25.17s.
Tainui’s Lewis Clareburt also placed seventh in his 200m freestyle final, finishing a successful swimming campaign for the team.
Briana Stephenson (Tainui, Ngāti Kahungunu) finished ninth overall in the women’s heptathlon. The 26 year-old was originally a long jumper and sprinter, but changed events to the heptathlon in 2023, after multiple knee surgeries. She was proud of her performance in just her first few years in the event.
Sam Tanner (Ngāpuhi) qualified for the men’s mile final, with the event returning to the Commonwealth Games programme for the first time in 60 years.
Ngāti Kahu ki Whaingaroa’s Emma Foy is Aotearoa’s first Māori cyclist we’ll see at the Games, competing in the Women’s Sprint Para-Sport B Tandem at 9PM (NZT).
