The Star: June 06, 2019

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