Tug-o-war champs up for sports award

Te Hirini Natana of Kaitaia, left, and Davina Tamehana of the Bay of Plenty feel the strain in the gold-medal winning final of the women's tug-o-war in Brazil. PICTURE/TINA MCGREGOR

A group of mostly Northland women have strong-armed their way into the 2015 Maori Sports Awards after winning the tug-o-war at the World Indigenous Games in Brazil.

KaiMatariki Aotearoa - the team of 43 athletes and kapa haka exponents who travelled to South America for last month's games, dubbed "the indigenous Olympics" - is nominated in the Best Sports Team and the Maori in World Champion Team categories. The winners will be announced this Saturday.

While Maori made it to the semi-finals in several events at the indigenous games, it was the women who came home with gold.

The Maori delegation was also responsible for one of the most talked-about moments of the games when their opening night kapa haka was so forceful it shattered the stage. Thanks to shonky repairs they broke it again on the second night.

WORLD GAMES: The entire KaiMatariki Aotearoa team at the World Indigenous Games in Brazil. PICTURE / TINA MCGREGOR

Anna Tripp, of Taipa, said she and her team-mates in the tug-o-war were "still having a bit of a giggle" about being nominated for the Maori in World Champion Team title alongside the All Blacks and the NZ Rugby Sevens side.

She said tug-o-war was an important event among Brazil's indigenous tribes. While their competitors were smaller physically, their teamwork was excellent and their strategy finely honed.

"They're strong people. They don't train in the way we do; it's just what they do in their everyday lives in their villages."

The team won four rounds to reach the final against the Javae tribe of central Brazil. One team failed to show up - the only word Ms Tripp understood in the announcement was 'escondido', Portuguese for 'hidden' - after their rivals apparently saw the Maori women flexing on the sidelines and went into hiding.

"It was exhilarating, an honour. When we looked at the other women we were up against, they were teenagers, mothers and grandmothers representing their family groups, just like us. That whanaungatanga aspect really humbled me."

Three Far North schoolgirls - Xzavier Broughton, 17, Kahi Elliot, 14, and Taylah Hart, 15 - accompanied Ms Tripp and her partner Wiremu Sarich as part of the KaiMatariki team.

Ms Tripp commended all three for competing in front of thousands of people, sometimes in intense heat.

"It was a big international event, and they really had to step up. They did it."

Meanwhile, Harko Brown of Puketona, one of the KaiMatariki organisers, said as well as competing in sports events the team performed kapa haka and demonstrated traditional Maori games such as ki-o-rahi to crowds of up to 8000 people.

The team built a ki-o-rahi field at the games venue in Palmas with the pou decorated by Maori, Cree Indians and other tribes including the Tupi-Guarani.

Mr Brown and his wife Verbina Kopa were appointed to the International Indigenous World Games Committee, allowing them to ensure representation for Aotearoa at the next world games in Canada in 2017. The organisers have already agreed to include ki-o-rahi as one of the events.

At 12 years old, their daughter Billie Brown was the youngest international competitor at the games. Older daughter Yves Brown was undeterred by pollution in the Ribeirao Taquarucu Grande River and placed seventh of 55 competitors in the 800m swim.

Twenty of the 43 KaiMatariki team members were from Northland, including nine from the Muriwhenua kapa haka group.

-The tug-o-war team was Anna Tripp (Ngapuhi, Te Rarawa), Taipa; Sheridan Ashby (Ngapuhi), Whangarei; Xzavier Broughton (Ngapuhi, Ngati Kuri), Taipa; Jonnine Lai (Ngati Tuwharetoa), Turangi; Tirakahurangi Wineera (Ngati Tuwharetoa), Turangi; Ihipera Maipi-Edwards (Waikato, Ngati Porou, Ngapuhi), Waikato; Hinemoana Pardoe-Crawford (Ngati Porou, Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngapuhi), Tolaga Bay; Davina Tamehana (Te Arawa, Ngati Ranginui, Ngata Awa), Bay of Plenty; Te Hirini Natana (Ngati Kuri), Kaitaia; Hera Waitai (Ngati Kuri), Kaitaia.

Nominees from Northland iwi in the 2015 Maori Sports Awards

Administrator

John Te Pania (Ngapuhi), table tennis

Disabled

Emma Foy (Ngati Kahu), cycling

Cameron Leslie (Ngapuhi), swimming

Sports Team

KaiMatariki Aotearoa NZ

Junior sportsman

Akira Ioane (Te Whanau a Apanui, Ngapuhi), rugby

Rieko Ioane (Te Whanau a Apanui, Ngapuhi), rugby sevens

Senior Sportswoman

Portia Woodman (Ngapuhi), rugby sevens

Abbey Erceg (Ngapuhi), football

Senior Sportsman

Winston Reid (Tainui, Te Rarawa), Football

2015 Individual Maori World Champion

Jason Wynyard (Ngati Maniapoto, Ngapuhi, Tainui), woodchopping

2015 Maori in World Champion Teams

NZ U18 Basketball, World 3X3 Basketball Champions

World UCI Paracycling Road and Track Champions

NZ Junior All Blacks, U20 World Rugby Champions

NZ All Black Sevens, World Sevens Champions

NZ All Blacks, World Rugby Champions

KaiMatariki Aotearoa, World Indigenous Games tug-o-war winners

-The winners will be announced this Saturday, November 28, at Turangawaewae Marae, Ngaruawahia. This list was complete at publication time but more nominees may be added. For a full list of nominees of all iwi affiliations, go to www.maorisportsawards.co.nz.