A controversial reclassification wrecked the chances of Whangarei's Cameron Leslie and his New Zealand Wheelblacks at the Asia-Oceania Wheelchair Rugby Championships in Icheon, Korea, meaning they failed to qualify for the 2012 London Paralympics.
The ninth world-ranked New Zealand team headed into the recent Oceania tournament confident they could finishin the top two (from four teams competing - Australia, NZ, Japan, and Korea) in order to qualify for next year's Paralympics. However, things did not pan out that way, and it has left the Kiwi team feeling frustrated.
New Zealand had a successful start to the tournament, defeating Korea 71-42 on day one, and losing to Japan by just one point. On day two, they came back to beat Japan 49-44. The Kiwis were narrowly beaten by Australia 57-52 which meant they would play Japan again in the semifinals.
"The tournament went well up until the day of the semifinal where we were thrown a curve ball from the international body [International Wheelchair Rugby Federation]. Basically my disability classification got changed, which going by tournament rules, cannot happen, three hours before tip-off," Leslie said.
The decision effectively took out their second strongest line-up and took out Leslie for most of the game.
The Wheelblacks went down to Japan 49-47, leaving the Kiwis to play off for the bronze medal against Korea, and out of contention for the Paralympics.
New Zealand went on to beat the Koreans 62-44, while Australia and Japan played off for gold. Australia claimed the 59-41 win over Japan and the event title.
Leslie said Wheelblacks coach Peter Martin planned on speaking to a sports lawyer as to whether anything could be done about the decision made on Leslie's classification at such late notice.
"It was a really crap finish to the tournament ... especially after the Koreans hosted us so well. The facilities were absolutely amazing."
The Kiwis were left ranked ninth following the tournament. Australia and Japan will now be a part of the eight-team draw at London 2012, which also includes the US, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, France and Great Britain.
