Northland’s boxing world champs — Kaitāia’s Mea Motu and Whangārei’s Lani Daniels — are nominees in the High Performance Sport New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year category for the Halberg Awards, the country’s premier sporting awards.
Northland’s boxing world champs — Kaitāia’s Mea Motu and Whangārei’s Lani Daniels — are nominees in the High Performance Sport New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year category for the Halberg Awards, the country’s premier sporting awards.
Three Northland athletes are in line for more sporting glory after being confirmed as nominees in the country’s premier sporting honours, the Halberg Awards.
Seventy-six athletes have been nominated for the 61st ISPS Handa Halberg Awards. The category finalists are announced in January and the overall winners revealed in a ceremony in Auckland in February. The awards will be broadcast live on February 14.
Since its establishment in 1963 by the late Sir Murray Halberg ONZ, the awards have been a beacon of recognition for extraordinary athletic feats. The awards also serve as the cornerstone fundraiser for the Halberg charity, to support the work of Sir Murray’s legacy of ensuring equal sporting and recreation opportunities for young individuals with physical disabilities.
An independent nominations board of respected individuals from the sports sector has confirmed the nominations in six categories.
Northland’s boxing world champions, Kaitāia’s Mea Motu and Whangārei’s Lani Daniels, are nominees in the High Performance Sport New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year category for the Halbergs.
The two boxers excelled at the recent Wahine Toa II fight night in Whangārei where Motu beat India’s Chandni Mehra to retain her IBO super bantamweight world title, and Daniels earned an impressive majority decision against Australian Desley “Lady D” Robinson for the vacant IBF light heavyweight world belt.
And with the hard-fought win, Daniels added the belt to her IBF heavyweight title, which made her the first Kiwi boxer to hold world championship belts at two weights at the same time.
Northland para athlete Cameron Leslie is a nominee in the ISPS Handa Para Athlete/Para Team of the Year category at the Halberg Awards.
Whangārei’s Cameron Leslie is a nominee in the ISPS Handa Para Athlete/Para Team of the Year category at the awards for another outstanding year.
All three will also be eligible for the Supreme Halberg Award.
Also nominated in the Sportswoman of the Year category is rugby sevens player Tyla Nathan-Wong, who has strong Northland connections, and in 2020 and 2021 played seven games at halfback on loan for Northland in the Farah Palmer Cup, scoring 25 points.
The Northland connections among the nominees don’t end there with Issac Peach, Motu’s coach and head of Auckland’s Peach Boxing, a nominee in the Buddle Findlay Coach of the Year category.
The nominations come from achievements from December 1 last year to November 30 this year, and represent excellence across 27 sporting codes, showcasing feats that embody dedication, perseverance, and sheer sporting prowess.
