Hockey: Funding boost after Champions Trophy performance

Hockey New Zealand will receive a healthy financial boost in 2012 due to the stellar performances of the Black Sticks at the Champions Trophy earlier this month.

Equestrian, basketball, rowing and cycling are the other big winners in today's 2012 investment announcement.

High Performance Sport New Zealand acting chief executive Martin Toomey said the focus of the new investments was to assist those athletes who had the potential to make the top 16 or, better, the podium at the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"These investment decisions also recognise recent strong performances by Kiwi athletes. We're really excited by how New Zealanders have been performing on the world stage and we know we've got a big year ahead of us with the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games,'' he said.

Hockey is getting a top-up of $600,000 as a result of its performances at the 2011 Champions Trophy tournaments. The Black Sticks men, who finished fourth at the recent tournament in Auckland, are getting $300,000 on top of the $800,000 they had already been allocated for 2012.

The Black Sticks women, who won a bronze medal at their Champions Trophy tournament, will get a top-up of $300,000 on their pre-existing 2012 allocation of $900,000.

The New Zealand equestrian eventing team will get an extra $250,000 on top of the $1 million previously allocated for 2012 to aid their pursuit for Olympic glory.

Basketball benefits with the Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns both supported to qualify for the Olympic Games. Their allocation includes investment to help them to London if they succeed in qualifying.

Rowing is set to get an extra $500,000 on top of its previous allocation, bringing annual investment in its high performance programme to $4.82 million.

"Because Rowing NZ has already qualified 11 crews for the London Olympics and has more elite athletes in squads, it has higher overheads and some of the increased investment reflects that,'' Toomey said.

BikeNZ will also get an extra $200,000 to support its 2012 medal campaign. Part of this funding will be to support its fast-improving women's track sprint programme.

"While these investment decisions are focused on 2012, we are also signalling support for sports which we expect to prove strong competition for our sporting rivals in 2016.''

Toomey said HPSNZ had noted further investment in rugby sevens in 2013, as the sport geared up towards entry to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. The investment in the New Zealand Rugby Union for its sevens programme would support full-time rugby sevens coaching staff, sevens-specific training camps, and international competition for the men and women.

Toomey said the applications for investment this year were for about twice the amount of money available.

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