The United States began their quest for Basketball World Cup redemption with a hard-fought win over New Zealand on Saturday, while Slovenian superstar Luka Doncic dazzled on his tournament debut. Defending champions Spain also got their campaign off to a successful start, and there were opening wins for Puerto Rico, Georgia, Greece, Brazil and Serbia on the competition’s second day. The United States finished seventh at the last World Cup in China four years ago […]
Tag: NZL
Hope for future despite New Zealand’s painful World Cup exit
By Daniel GILHOOLY Agence France-Presse WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand’s proud players hope their performances at the World Cup will be a turning point for women’s football in the country despite the pain of an early exit. Some of the team were in tears as the tournament co-hosts bowed out on Sunday in the group stage in front of a sell-out 25,000 crowd in Dunedin. Their 0-0 stalemate with Switzerland meant they finished […]
World Cup will ‘wake up’ New Zealand’s love of football: coach
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AFP) — Staging the Women’s World Cup will “wake up” New Zealand’s passion for football, the co-hosts’ coach Jitka Klimkova said on Wednesday’s eve of the tournament. Football remains well behind rugby, cricket and other sports in popularity in New Zealand, which is jointly hosting the World Cup with Australia. New Zealand have also never won a Women’s World Cup game in 15 attempts, but they hope to change that when they […]
New Zealand golfer Ko returns to No. 1 in world
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is atop the women’s golf world rankings for the third time in her career, regaining the number one spot on Monday a week after her LPGA Tour Championship triumph. Ko, who first reached number one in 2015, passed American Nelly Korda, who had moved atop the rankings on November 14 after a one-stroke victory at the Pelican Women’s Championship. “I’m very grateful to be world number […]





