Wheelchair rugby: NZ aim for top 4 spot at World Cup

Whangarei NZ Wheel Blacks team member and Northern Advocate sports editor Cameron Leslie in practice ahead of IWRF World Championships in Odense, Denmark next month.Photo/Cherie Harris

Winning next month's Wheelchair Rugby World Cup isn't exactly mission impossible, but Whangarei Wheel Blacks team member Cameron Leslie acknowledges it will be extremely hard for the team to lift the trophy in Denmark.

Leslie, a double-Paralympic swimming gold medallist and Northern Advocate sports editor, says some recent good results have given the Wheel Blacks confidence they can compete with the world's best at wheelchair rugby, which is affectionately known as Murderball.

The team flew out yesterday for Odense, Denmark, for the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation's World Championships from August 1-10, with the Wheel Blacks ranked 10th of the 12 teams. The Kiwis are in the same group as world No1 USA, Japan, Sweden, Germany and France.

The Wheel Blacks were Paralympic champs in 2004 so the lowly ranking rankles with Leslie, who says the aim of this tournament is to get into the top four as it builds momentum for a crack at another Paralympic title in Rio in 2016.

"Top six is the absolute bare minimum, but our goal is top four. Most of the international wheelchair rugby competitions involve the top eight teams so we need to break into that league to get good competition ahead of Rio," he said.

"Four years ago I was sitting on the sidelines watching. Now I want to be a big part of the team and contributing on the court and helping us win."

Leslie said some good results at the recent Canada Cup in Vancouver and in Auckland, has the team confident it can foot it with the big boys on the court.

"At the Canada Cup we had a couple of wins and some good results against the top European teams who we hadn't played for years, if ever. As well a recent win over (world number two) Australia in an international in Auckland, where we beat them by three in overtime, was a great result and shows us we are not too far away from the best."

But the team needs to perform at that level consistently and Leslie accepts that the Wheel Blacks do not have the same strength in depth as the other teams in the world champs.

"That's probably where we are lacking as there's not a huge amount of depth in the squad. But what we lack in depth we make up for in hard work, dedication and tenacity on the court."

Leslie is a double Paralympic 150m individual medley swimming gold medallist and is aiming for a third games in Rio, Brazil in 2016, but says he's not too concerned about injuries possibly affecting his swimming training. One of the big attractions of wheelchair rugby is it's a team game.

"Swimming is a very individual sport and Murderball is a very rough sport, but I play it for the camaraderie and because it's a team sport. Being able to share the experiences as part of a team is awesome," he said.

"You can share the good times and disappointments with the team."