New Zealand Prime Minister John Key wants the All Whites to receive a champions’ parade for their battling performance at the World Cup, where they were knocked out in the group stage without losing a match.
New Zealand drew all three of their contests in South Africa in their second appearance at the finals after being beaten in all their group games at the 1982 tournament in Spain.
“It would be nice to see their result celebrated,” Key told local media yesterday. “They’ll come back as champions.”
New Zealand, 78th in the FIFA world rankings, will return home after upsetting the odds by holding Slovakia, Paraguay and World Cup holders Italy in Group F.
“They are a team that are going to come back to New Zealand as heroes,” Key said. “It was always going to be a Herculean task to get through.”
“In the end they didn’t quite make it on points but a result nevertheless that we can all be proud of,” he said.
However, an official celebration for the New Zealand side could be at least a week and up to a month away with players and coaching staff arriving back at different times.
Wellington would be the likely venue for the parade after talks with New Zealand Football, according to the country’s NZPA news service.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
RSS