BLACK STICKS TRIUMPH OVER JAPAN AT KAPITI SPORTS TURF

The Black Sticks Men were victorious against Japan’s national hockey team in the four-match series held in Wellington and Kāpiti this week.

The fourth match held last night at the Coastlands Kapiti Sports Turf ended in a 3-3 tie. The Black Sticks won the second and third matches, with a nil-all tie in the first match.

Hundreds of locals turned up at the Kapiti Sports Turf for last night’s game and the game on Friday evening to watch the district’s first ever international test matches.

“The hockey was hugely exciting and lots of people were there to get in behind our Black Sticks winning the series for New Zealand,” Mayor Ross Church says.

“We’ve now proved we can host sport of this calibre in the district and hope many more international matches will follow. The Kapiti Sports Turf is a fantastic venue and the amount of work put into the hockey by volunteers, as well as staff from the Turf and Council, resulted in great success.”

Richard Palmer, Hockey NZ Events Manager, says the Black Sticks players thought the sports turf at Kapiti was fantastic.

“They really enjoyed it. The whole venue is very well set out and there was a great crew of people who made it all happen. I see no reason, given the success of the two matches in Kāpiti, that we wouldn’t come back to play here again if it was possible