Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games saw mana wāhine leading the way for Aotearoa, highlighted by a historic medal in 3x3 basketball.
Azure Anderson (Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Toa) and Eva Langton (Te Ātiawa, Taranaki) helped the wāhine’s 3x3 basketball team win the bronze medal.
It is Aotearoa’s first-ever Commonwealth Games basketball medal, across both the 5-on-5 and 3x3 formats, placing fourth at the 2022 Birmingham Games.
The team went unbeaten through pool play before falling 21-9 to Uganda in the semi-final. They bounced back to defeat Jamaica in the bronze medal match.
The tāne’s 3x3 basketball team narrowly missed the medal rounds, losing 18-16 to hosts Scotland in the quarter-finals.
The Silver Ferns continued their winning streak with a dominant 65-37 win over Wales, with their next match against Trinidad & Tobago at 1.00AM Friday (NZT).
Ngāpuhi’s Georgia Theron made her Commenwealth Games weightlifting debut in the women’s 77kg division.
The 20 year-old completed her lifts with a smile and briefly sat in bronze medal position after lifting 123kg. She was later edged out by just 1kg as Canada’s Isabella Brown claimed third place.
Meanwhile in the puna kaukau, Ngāti Raukawa’s Chelsea Edwards finished seventh in the women’s 50m freestyle final, with a time of 25.17s.
Tainui’s Lewis Clareburt also placed seventh in his 200m freestyle final, bringing Team New Zealand’s swimming programme to a close.
Brianna Stephenson (Tainui, Ngāti Kahungunu) finished ninth overall in the women’s heptathlon. After multiple knee surgeries, she switched to the heptathlon in 2023 and said she was proud of her performance in just her first few years in the event.
Sam Tanner qualified for the men’s mile final, with the event returning to the Commonwealth Games programme for the first time in 60 years.
Ngāti Kahu ki Whaingaroa’s Emma Foy is Aotearoa’s first Māori cyclist we’ll see at the Games, competiting in the Women’s Sprint Para-Sport B Tandem at 9PM NZT.
