The Star: June 06, 2019
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>June</strong> 6 <strong>2019</strong><br />
news online at www.star.kiwi<br />
SPORT 33<br />
Boxer hungry for success<br />
• By Gordon Findlater<br />
FASTING DURING Ramadan<br />
and dropping down a weight<br />
division wasn’t getting in the<br />
way of Mujib (Jai) Ghazizada<br />
winning the most scientific elite<br />
boxer award at the South Island<br />
Golden Gloves.<br />
Ghazizada won the 64kg elite<br />
male title by winning his three<br />
fights at the Golden Gloves<br />
held at the Kaiapoi Club at the<br />
weekend. Following his gold<br />
medal-winning bout he was then<br />
awarded the most scientific elite<br />
boxer.<br />
He joins an elite list of boxers<br />
to have won the trophy including<br />
one of his idols – current WBU<br />
Welterweight World Championship<br />
Bowyn Morgan – who won<br />
it in 2011 and 2012.<br />
“When I took the trophy I saw<br />
Bowyn Morgan’s name on it, I’m<br />
a huge Bowyn Morgan fan . . . I<br />
look up to him, he’s an amazing<br />
boxer,” said Ghazizada.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 24-year-old would normally<br />
fight in the 69kg division.<br />
However, due to Ramadan –<br />
which means abstaining from<br />
food and drink between sunrise<br />
and sunset - he dropped down a<br />
weight division.<br />
“Normally I weigh around<br />
67kg,” said Ghazizada.<br />
“It was a bit difficult to recover,<br />
but it was just a mind-set. I just<br />
told myself to never give up and<br />
give 100 per cent everything I<br />
have.”<br />
Ramadan finished yesterday<br />
and Ghazizada celebrated in<br />
traditional Afghani style with<br />
rice and curry.<br />
Top of the tables<br />
League premiership<br />
P W L D PD Pts<br />
Hornby Panthers 7 6 1 0 196 12<br />
Linwood Keas 7 6 1 0 116 12<br />
Northern Bulldogs 7 4 3 0 74 8<br />
Eastern Eagles 7 4 3 0 14 8<br />
Riccarton Knights 7 4 3 0 -4 8<br />
Celebration Lions 7 2 5 0 -71 4<br />
Papanui Tigers 7 2 5 0 -135 4<br />
Halswell Hornets 7 0 7 0 -192 0<br />
Metro premier rugby<br />
P W L D BP Pts<br />
Lincoln University 10 8 2 0 11 43<br />
Christchurch 10 9 1 0 6 42<br />
Marist Albion 10 7 3 0 8 36<br />
HSOB 10 6 4 0 8 32<br />
Linwood 10 5 4 1 7 29<br />
New Brighton 10 5 4 1 6 28<br />
Burnside 10 5 5 0 7 27<br />
Shirley 10 5 5 0 7 27<br />
Sydenham 10 4 6 0 8 24<br />
Sumner 10 4 6 0 7 19<br />
Belfast 10 3 7 0 5 13<br />
University 10 0 10 0 0 0<br />
UC Championship<br />
P W L D BP Pts<br />
St Andrew’s 5 5 0 0 4 24<br />
Nelson College 5 4 1 0 5 21<br />
Christchurch BHS 5 4 1 0 4 20<br />
St Bedes College 5 4 1 0 4 20<br />
Christ’s College 5 3 1 1 4 18<br />
Rangiroa HS 5 3 2 0 4 16<br />
Lincoln Combined 5 2 2 1 3 13<br />
Marlborough BC 5 2 3 0 3 11<br />
St Thomas 5 2 3 0 2 10<br />
DETERMINED: Mujib Ghazizada (blue) lands a punch<br />
en route to winning the 64kg elite male title at the South<br />
Island Golden Gloves. <br />
He and his family arrived in<br />
New Zealand 14 years ago as<br />
refugees from Afghanistan. One<br />
of his first memories in New<br />
Zealand was watching David<br />
Tua and Shane Cameron fights<br />
which sparked a keen interest in<br />
the sport.<br />
However, it was only two years<br />
ago that he joined the Papanui<br />
Boxing Club. His gold medal at<br />
the Golden Gloves was just his<br />
sixth fight as an amateur.<br />
Ghazizada – who is a civil engineer<br />
– has the dream of going<br />
professional in the future.<br />
“I’m really hungry for it . . .<br />
It’s a dream, every time I think<br />
about it keeps me going and<br />
going, to turn professional and<br />
become New Zealand champion<br />
one day. Hopefully, I can<br />
become a world champion,” said<br />
Ghazizada.<br />
His commitment to boxing<br />
hasn’t gone unnoticed by his<br />
coach Eric Sincock.<br />
“He never misses a training<br />
and he’s very good in the gym<br />
with the other people,” said<br />
Sincock.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 75-year-old has been<br />
involved as a coach at the<br />
Papanui club for more than 20<br />
years. However, it is the first<br />
time he has won the coach of the<br />
most scientific boxer award at a<br />
South Island Golden Gloves.<br />
Waimea Combined 5 2 3 0 1 9<br />
Shirley BHS 5 1 4 0 2 6<br />
Timaru BHS 5 1 4 0 1 5<br />
Aoraki Combined 5 1 4 0 0 4<br />
Mid Canterbury 5 0 5 0 1 1<br />
Mainland Premier League<br />
P W D L GD Pts<br />
Cashmere Tech 11 10 0 1 35 30<br />
Nelson Suburbs 12 8 1 3 17 25<br />
Coastal Spirit 12 5 1 6 4 16<br />
Western AFC 11 5 1 5 1 16<br />
Nomads United 11 5 0 6 -11 15<br />
Ferrymead Bays 11 4 2 5 -6 14<br />
Selwyn United 11 4 1 6 -5 13<br />
FC Twenty 11 11 0 2 9 -35 2<br />
Premier hockey men<br />
P W L D GD Pts<br />
Southern United 6 5 0 1 6 16<br />
Marist 6 4 2 0 14 12<br />
Harewood 6 3 1 2 2 11<br />
HSOB/Burnside 6 2 2 2 4 8<br />
Carlton Redcliffs 6 2 3 1 1 7<br />
Avon 6 1 2 3 -3 6<br />
University 6 1 3 2 -14 5<br />
Hornby Vipers 6 0 5 1 -10 1<br />
Premier hockey women<br />
P W L D GD Pts<br />
Carlton Redcliffs 5 5 0 0 20 15<br />
Marist 5 3 2 0 4 9<br />
Avon Eels 5 3 2 0 -1 9<br />
Harewood 5 2 2 1 5 7<br />
Hornby Tigers 5 2 2 1 0 7<br />
HSOB/Burnside 5 2 3 0 -6 6<br />
Southern United 6 0 6 0 -22 0<br />
THE INEVITABLE move to live<br />
sport being streamed could hold<br />
the answer to getting more bums<br />
on seats at Super Rugby games.<br />
Spark’s streaming service for<br />
the Rugby World Cup is the first<br />
sign of what is to come when it<br />
comes to viewing our most popular<br />
sport. If live Super Rugby<br />
and All Black games move to<br />
streaming in the future it could<br />
help pack out stadiums if a local<br />
market blackout is implemented.<br />
A blackout is the non-airing of<br />
a television or radio broadcast in<br />
a particular market.<br />
If a Super Rugby blackout<br />
was introduced it would mean<br />
Crusaders fans in Christchurch<br />
wouldn’t be able to watch a live<br />
broadcast of a home Crusaders<br />
match. <strong>The</strong>y would instead have<br />
to attend the match to see it live<br />
or watch delayed coverage.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re’s no hiding the ugly fact<br />
rugby crowds in New Zealand<br />
have dwindled over the past two<br />
decades and one of the reasons<br />
can be linked with the increased<br />
accessibility and improved quality<br />
of live broadcasts.<br />
However, the same hasn’t happened<br />
in some countries when<br />
it comes to their most predominant<br />
sports.<br />
In the United Kingdom a<br />
blackout has been in effect since<br />
the early 1960s and forbids any<br />
live soccer match from being<br />
shown in the UK between<br />
2.45pm and 5.15pm so that attendances<br />
at Premier League and<br />
Weekend match-ups<br />
•League premiership<br />
(Saturday) Riccarton Knights<br />
v Hornby Panthers 2.45pm,<br />
Crosbie Park; Linwood Keas<br />
v Celebration Lions 2.45pm,<br />
Linwood Park; Northern<br />
Bulldogs v Halswell Hornets<br />
2.45pm, Murphy Park; Papanui<br />
Tigers v Eastern Eagles 2.45pm,<br />
Papanui Domain.<br />
•Metro premier rugby<br />
(Saturday) Sydenham v<br />
Canterbury University 2.45pm,<br />
Sydenham Park; Burnside v<br />
Lincoln University 2.45pm,<br />
Burnside Park; Belfast v New<br />
Brighton 2.45pm, Sheldon Park;<br />
Shirley v Linwood 2.45pm,<br />
Burwood Park; Sumner v HSOB<br />
2.45pm, St Leonards Square;<br />
Marist Albion v Christchurch<br />
2.45pm, Edgar MacIntosh.<br />
•UC Championship<br />
(Friday) St Thomas’ v Lincoln<br />
Combined 3.30pm, St Thomas.<br />
(Saturday) Waimea Combined<br />
v Nelson College noon; Mid-<br />
Canterbury Combined v Aoraki<br />
Combined noon, Ashburton<br />
College; Marlborough BC v<br />
One-eyed Cantab<br />
Gordon Findlater<br />
gordon.findlater@starmedia.kiwi<br />
Blackouts the way to<br />
get bums on seats<br />
Football League matches are not<br />
affected.<br />
While Premier League<br />
matches are shown live around<br />
the world during this period, UK<br />
viewers are restricted.<br />
<strong>The</strong> best model to follow would<br />
be the regional model which has<br />
been used for major sports in the<br />
United States.<br />
For more than four decades<br />
the NFL maintained a blackout<br />
policy which stated that a home<br />
game cannot be televised in the<br />
team’s local market if 85 per cent<br />
of the tickets are not sold out<br />
72 hours prior to its start time.<br />
<strong>The</strong> same policy applied to<br />
Super Rugby would mean Crusaders<br />
games could be broadcast<br />
live to local viewers as long as the<br />
stadium reaches capacity.<br />
<strong>The</strong> reason live New Zealand<br />
sport broadcasts moving to a<br />
streaming platform would be the<br />
ideal time to introduce blackouts<br />
is because it could easily be implemented<br />
through the geographical<br />
location of IP addresses – meaning<br />
you won’t be able to watch<br />
through an internet connection<br />
within X number of kilometres<br />
from a team’s home ground.<br />
<strong>The</strong> biggest argument against<br />
this being unfair is the age old<br />
“what if you can’t afford to go<br />
to the game.” However, I can<br />
assure you the cost of attending<br />
a season of Crusaders games<br />
wouldn’t work out to cost much<br />
more than a Sky subscription for<br />
a season.<br />
Rangiora HS noon, Marlborough<br />
BC; Christchurch BHS v Shirley<br />
BHS 2.45pm, Christchurch<br />
BHS; Christ’s College v St Bede’s<br />
2.45pm; Upper.<br />
•Mainland Premier<br />
League<br />
Cashmere Technical v Nelson<br />
Suburbs noon, Garrick Memorial<br />
Park; FC Twenty v Western AFC<br />
2.45pm, Avonhead Park; Selwyn<br />
United v Coastal Spirit 2.45pm,<br />
Foster Park; Nomads United v<br />
Ferrymead Bays 2.45pm, Tulett<br />
Park.<br />
•Premier hockey men<br />
Hornby Vipers v Carlton<br />
Redcliffs 1.15pm, Nga Puna Wai;<br />
University v Southern United<br />
2.45pm, Nga Puna Wai; Marist v<br />
Avon 3pm, Waimakariri Hockey<br />
Turf; Harewood v HSOB/<br />
Burnside 4.30pm, Nga Puna Wai.<br />
•Premier hockey women<br />
Hornby Tigers v Carlton<br />
Redcliffs 11.45am, Nga Puna<br />
Wai; Avon Eels v Marist 1.30pm,<br />
Marist Park; HSOB/Burnside v<br />
Harewood 1.30pm, Nga Puna<br />
Wai.