KEY POINTS:
New Zealand are seeking at least one gold medal at the Asia Pacific championships starting in Christchurch today.
National selector and men's coach Dave Edwards said while there was an experimental nature to the five-strong men's and women's teams, the event represented the first step towards next year's world championships.
"Our goal is to reach the quarter-finals in all four disciplines and ideally go on to claim at least one gold. We're not setting huge goals."
Last year, when it was played in Melbourne, gold medals went to Fiji, Australia and Hong Kong China in the women's competition and to Canada, Malaysia and the New Zealand triples team of Gary Lawson, Richard Girvan and Justin Goodwin in men's action.
The selectors have gone for youth this time.
At an average age of 27, the New Zealand squad are the youngest named to represent the country.
Shannon McIlroy, who turned 20 last week, will play the singles; Dwayne Cameron and Ali Forsyth will join forces in the pairs; and Richard Girvan and Doug Wilson will be involved in the triples and the fours.
Nelson's Val Smith will play the singles for the women and join Mary Campbell, runner-up in national championship singles in Dunedin, in the pairs. The Khan sisters, Marina and Jan, and Manu Timoti, 28, make up the triples and fours combinations.
Strong competition is expected to come from Australia and Malaysia.
Edwards is pleased the traditional scoring system is being used, not sets.
"We're more comfortable with that method of scoring," he said.
"There's a feeling that luck comes into the sets and tiebreaks system."
The New Zealanders have put a lot of effort into camps and training programmes and all bar the Khan sisters competed in the recent national championships.
Campbell won the pairs and the women's consistency award, and Cameron and McIlroy reached the final of the fours.
Rain prevented any practice in Christchurch on Wednesday, but the New Zealanders put in a solid training session yesterday. The forecast is for fine weather today.
The 17 nations participating are Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.
- NZPA
