The final athletes for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham have been selected with the announcement of the New Zealand men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball teams.
The sport will be making its debut at the Birmingham Games.
The women’s team is Tiarna Clarke, Ella Fotu, Jillian Harmon, and Kalani Purcell.
Whle the men’s team Jayden Bezzant, Dominique Kelman-Poto, Nikau McCullough and Tai Wynyard.
Although a relatively new sport compared to its more traditional 5-on-5 format, 3×3 basketball has steadily grown over the past several years and ranks among the most popular urban sports in the world.
Dom Kelman-Poto said making the team is an honour.
Dom Kelman-Poto of the Sharks after the NBL basketball match between the Supercity Rangers and the Southland Sharks at the AUT Sport & Fitness Centre, Northcote, Auckland, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Copyright photo: David Rowland / www.photosport.nz
Photo: David Rowland
“I could finally say to my parents ‘mum, dad I made it’ – just to see how proud they’d be at me [representing New Zealand], would be the best thing,” says Kelman-Poto.
“I say this to a lot of my family, that I’m not just representing the front of my shirt, I’m representing the back. My mother was a Tall Fern and she was also a Silver Fern, my sister has been a Tall Fern, so there’s high expectations in the family,” he said.
The naming is the final athlete selection to the New Zealand Team for Birmingham 2022, with a final team size of 234 athletes.
-RNZ
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