HANDBALL - Te Iringa named in national squad

Whangarei's Leah Te Iringa feels like she's a winner already after being named in New Zealand's Pacific Cup handball squad.
Te Iringa leaves this weekend to compete in the Pacific Cup in Brisbane knowing the team's ultimate goal is qualifying for London in 2012. The Oceania event is a qualifying tournament for the world women's handball championships in China later this year.
"The New Zealand team's main goal is to get to the Olympics in London and I'm really fortunate just to be part of that, so I'm really excited," she said.
Her selection was something of a surprise because she's only played handball for two years, but she took to the game quickly.
"I'm a pretty sporty person. I play basketball, netball, rugby and touch. And a lot of the skills needed for handball I've developed already in those sports, so it didn't take that long to get used to the game. I just had to learn the rules," she said.
The 26-year-old got involved in handball through friends, after former New Zealand representative Kevin Shedlock started a Whangarei module a few years ago when he moved to the area from Wellington.
Shedlock said that, although Leah was relatively new to the sport, her athletic capabilities provided her with the base skills of speed, agility and physical strength required to be successful on an international handball court.
"These skills will provide her with a pathway to test herself against some of the best handball players on the globe and, if she chooses to, could also open up professional opportunities, if she is up to it in the future," he said.
Beating the hosts will be the big challenge for the newly formed New Zealand team when competition gets underway next week. They can also expect tough opposition from the Cook Islands, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Samoa and Vanuatu in the competition.
Te Iringa is looking forward to taking on the best handball playing nations in the Pacific and is eager to test herself at an international playing level early in her handball career.
Handball is a huge sport in the rest of the world - particularly in Europe. "It's one of the five top sports in the world and we're just becoming part of it now," she said.
Te Iringa has become part of the development of the sport in Northland over the past couple of years and helped introduce the sport to Northland schools last year.
Two other members of the Northland set-up, Kathleen Mathews and Ellen Shedlock, were also selected as managers in the New Zealand women's delegation to Brisbane.
• The NZ Women's Handball Team: Terangi Winitana (captain); Nella Hake; Claresta Andrews (Hutt Valley); Bella Fruean (Taranaki); Toni Blake; Kim Elliot; Teryn Hughes (Wellington); Lauren Ensor (Christchurch); Te Hau Winitana (Hawke's Bay); Arianna Randall (Waikato); Leah Te Iringa (Northland); Rebecca Hunter; Winika Paniora (overseas based).