Canoe Polo: Captains buoyant on medal hopes

Jed Graham (left), Alexia Hinton, Wilson Pearse and Ryan Warren will captain their respective New Zealand canoe polo teams at next month’s Oceania Championship in Melbourne.

Hawke's Bay canoe polo's Jed Graham has an extra incentive to win a third Oceania Championship gold medal in Melbourne next month.

Graham, 26, will be captaining the New Zealand senior men's team for the first time at the April 9-11 champs and will be one of four Hawke's Bay players captaining their respective national teams which is a record for a province at this level. The other Hawke's Bay captains are Ryan Warren (under-21 men), Wilson Pearse (under-18 boys) and Alexia Hinton (under-18 girls).

"It would be pretty special to return home with a gold. While we've got a younger team than we've had in the past it is really strong, a result of the country's development programmes. I'm really excited," said Graham, who will be attending his sixth Oceanias.

His previous golds were won when he captained the Kiwis under-18 boys team in 2007 and when he played for the senior men for the first time in 2009. This was the first time the Kiwi senior men had beaten the Aussies at the champs.

His Christchurch-based brother, Mitch Graham, and Palmerston North-based Matt Keogh are the other products of Hawke's Bay's age group production line in the senior men's team.

Karamu High School Year 13 student Pearse 17, will be attending his first Oceania champs. He hopes some strong performances in Melbourne will help him achieve his long-term goal of selection for the New Zealand under-21 team to compete at the 2018 world championships.

The Hawke's Bay A grade men National League player is confident his team can return home with gold.

"We've got a couple of young guys who are developing but we've got a strong base," he said.

Hastings Boys' High School's Ethan Flanders is the other Bay player in Pearse's Kiwi team.

Warren, 18, will also have his first taste of international play in Melbourne. A Hawke's Bay teammate of Pearse, he hopes to retain his berth in the Kiwi under-21 team for next year's world championships in Europe.

"We have yet to hear whether the world champs will be played in Italy, Portugal or Germany. But if we can win gold in Melbourne that's going to be a big advantage for us when we chase a medal at the worlds," Warren said.

Warren's brother Liam and AJ Bowden are the other Bay players in the Kiwi under-21 team. Former Bay player Connor Taylor, who is now Palmerston North-based, is also in the team.

Havelock North High School Year 13 student Hinton will also be pulling on the silver fern for the first time.

"We've got a young team and it will be a good experience. If we can pull things together we've got a good chance of gold. We're going to compete in the under-15 grade in Melbourne as well so we've got a good build-up to our under-18 matches," Hinton explained.

Other Bay players in her team are Hana-Tia Ross and Georgia Bryan.

Hinton's older brother Jordan was a New Zealand rep at world championship level last year and she wants to match his feat by playing at next year's worlds. Because Hawke's Bay doesn't have an A grade women's National League team she will play for Palmerston North this season.