Wheel Blacks on hunt for success

Whangarei wheelchair rugby athlete Cameron Leslie is off to Vancouver next month for the Canada Cup. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Cameron Leslie hopes his trip to Vancouver this time will be a sweet success, after last time the wheelchair rugby athlete was left with a sour taste when his team placed ninth.

Next month Leslie and the New Zealand wheelchair rugby team, The Wheel Blacks, are heading over to contest in the Canada Cup, a competition featuring eight of the top wheelchair rugby teams in the world.

Last time the team was in Vancouver was in 2010 for the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) World Championships, where they placed ninth after going in one of the teams fancied to win.

"There's some pretty painful memories from there. We pretty much got spanked," Leslie said. "We should have finished better than what we did but we dropped our bundle.

"We're staying at the same venue, playing at the same venue [this time around], so hopefully we can rewrite those memories from there," he said.

The June 19-21 tournament serves as a perfect curtain-raiser for the Kiwis' main event this year, the IWRF World Championships in Denmark in August, Leslie said.

"Because we haven't played a number of these teams in years, it'll be really good for us to get a blow-out and see these players that we'll being coming up against at World Champs in Denmark."

Wheel Blacks coach Peter Martin said the Canada Cup is a great opportunity for the Wheel Blacks to put their plays, and players, to the test against quality opposition.

"Canada Cup is a big benchmark as far as I'm concerned. It's a great opportunity to get over there and see what we can do with top eight teams and still have time to come back and re-group, assess what worked, and what didn't," Mr Martin said.

Canada Cup serves as another stepping stone for the Wheel Blacks towards the 2016 Rio Paralympics, where the Kiwis hope to achieve a podium finish, he said.

"We currently have a world ranking of 10th ... [but] there is no doubt within our squad we have some real talent developing, which has yet to show its full potential.

"Our ultimate goal, in this four-year cycle, is a podium finish at the Rio Paralympics. [But], as a small sport, with a small player base, with relatively little support, we need our top athletes to strive to perform at their highest level, to be self-driven, self-motivated, in order they achieve their potential."