The U21 Junior Paddle Ferns beat Germany 3-2 in the final game on Sunday morning New Zealand time to win the World championship for the first time, undefeated to boot.
The U21 Junior Paddle Ferns beat Germany 3-2 in the final game on Sunday morning New Zealand time to win the World championship for the first time, undefeated to boot.
An undefeated run has secured a first time world championship title for an under-21 women's New Zealand canoe polo team that has significant Hawke's Bay connections.
The Junior Paddle Ferns beat Germany 3-2 in the final in St Omer, France on Sunday morning (NZ time).
Going into the match, New Zealand's best world championship finish for the U21 women's category was third place in 2018 while Germany's U21 women's team had won the title five of the six times the competition has been held previously.
The New Zealand squad includes Hawke's Bay players Meaghan Broad, the team's youngest player at 16, and Hannah Hunt, who turned 19 the day before the finals.
Team manager and chairperson of Canoe Polo Hawke's Bay Kelly Walters said being the first team to qualify for the final and surpassing their previous best was already very good.
"They did well, they executed their plan well, they played 120 per cent, completely out of their skins," Walters said.
Hannah Hunt of the Hawke's Bay Hurrikets was one of the Hawke's Bay players selected for the under-21 women's New Zealand canoe polo squad which won the world championship.
She said the team kept a level head all the way to the end, despite being undefeated and beating some teams by a large margin.
"They didn't go in over-confident, they didn't go in cocky, they went it and just took it as if it was a whole new game and this was a team they hadn't played before.
She said the team "cried a lot" when they won.
"They were just so overwhelmed. Unbelievably happy and ecstatic with their results.
"They haven't said a lot, they've just been extremely happy. Their faces say it all really."
New Zealand captain Kate Blincoe said in a post game interview with the International Canoe Federation that the win felt "pretty bloody good".
She credited their success to a close knit team.
"I'd go as far as to say we are sisters, we are super-tight and I think that is key to our success," Blincoe said.
The other three New Zealand teams, the senior men Paddle Blacks, the senior women Paddle Ferns and the U21 men Junior Paddle Blacks fought hard and came 11th, fourth and sixth in their respective categories.
The entire New Zealand cohort had a number of players from Hawke's Bay, including Toby Mills and Ben Colman for the U21 men and Casey Hales and Emma Sutherland for the senior women squad.
