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Entertainment | Māori Sports Awards

Worthy finalists all around in Māori Sports Awards

The Māori Sports Awards are being held this Saturday night and one Māori sports broadcaster believes the quality of the nominees this year will be making it hard for the judges to decide on a winner.

Joelle King (Ngāti Porou) won two gold medals and a bronze playing squash at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast.

Rugby sevens superstar Portia Woodman (Ngāpuhi) won a Commonwealth Games gold, and a sevens world cup and is again nominated for World Player of the Year.

Lisa Carrington (Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Ngāti Porou) won her sixth canoe world championship.

Kiwi Ferns captain Honey Hireme was a finalist in the inaugural Golden Boot Award this month.

Tumamao Harawira believes the quality of that category alone is amazing, probably be one of the toughest for the judges to decide in the past decade.

He says while Woodman's achievements on the football field have been impressive, and King deserves her nomination for what she achieved in April he believes Carrington will win the Hineahuone award this year.

In the men's section, Te Ati Awa's Sam Gaze is a Commonwealth Games mountain bike gold medalist and he faces competition from powerhouse All Black winger Rieko Ioane (Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāpuhi), Gisborne Lawn Bowler Shannon McIlroy (Ngāti Porou) and Kiwis' captain Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (Ngāti Maru).

Harawira cannot yet predict a winner.  He says there are two names that come to mind, Ioane and Watene-Zelezniak.

He is leaning towards Ioane because of the attachment New Zealand has to rugby union.  However, he says Watene-Zelezniak following in his great-grandfather's footsteps to captain the Kiwis cannot be overlooked.

With finalists and world champions acknowledged across 19 different sports, Harawira is encouraged by Māori athletes succeeding in various fields and particularly by what it means to the younger generation, who may now believe that there are more pathways to a sporting career than the traditional rugby, league and netball.

The coaching award, Te Maru ō Tūmatauenga, nominee list is also stacked with success stories.

Alan Bunting (Tūhourangi) guided the Black Ferns Sevens team to Commonwealth Games gold and a world cup as well as narrowly finishing second on the world series circuit.

Glen Wilson (Waikato) is a squash coach who helped guide King, Amanda Landers-Murphy (Taranaki, Te Ati Awa) and Paul Coll to Commonwealth success this year.

Former coach of the year winner, Kiwi Campbell (Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) is again a finalist after helping Horouta achieve success at the IVF Va'a Sprint Championships in Tahiti.

New Silver Ferns coach Noeline Taurua is also a finalist, having defended the Suncorp Super Netball title with Sunshine Coast Lightning in Australia.

Harawira acknowledges Bunting's success with the 'Sevens Sisters'.  However, he says he can feel his uncle, Kingi Taurua, a former broadcaster himself who passed away earlier this year, telling him to say his daughter Noeline's name.

The awards will be presented at Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau on Saturday and will be livestreamed on maoritelevision.com.

A highlights package will also be played on Māori Television on Sunday.