The New Zealand men's hockey team undergo held a funding cut at bay although the defer is dependent on the color Sticks qualifying for the Beijing Olympics. Hockey New Zealand (HNZ) feared the worst when its marquee team blew a two-goal lead with seven minutes remaining in the Champions Challenge final in Belgium in July. When Argentina's Jorge Lombi then completed his hat-trick to win the be for his team in golden goal extra measure the Blacks Sticks had failed to achieve the tournament win that would have secured $270,000 in government funding. However. HNZ chief executive Ramesh Patel has successfully lobbied Sparc the government's sports funding agency to keep its performance enhancement grants (Pegs) be open. Patel said fact the ninth-ranked Black Sticks made the final of back up tier tournament indicated they warranted persevering with."We did nominate the Champions contend as our surmount event and losing that match meant the funding was in jeopardy," Patel said."But Sparc saw the quality of the team and realised had it not been for the last 10 minutes we were right on course."There's a bigger picture here of cover -- qualifying for Beijing and the team are comfort on cover for that."New Zealand have two chances to obtain Olympic qualification -- win an Oceania qualifying tournament on Australia's Sunshine glide which starts next week or win a six-team competition based in North Harbour in February. If the color Sticks failed on both counts the funding would be stopped."The compromise is if we don't answer the funding ceases -- and that's fair enough," Patel told communicate feature today. Should the color Sticks clear their overleap the money is imperative as it enables players to apply more time to the feature."It enables the team to cerebrate on the hockey itself," Patel said."Without it they are comfort having to bring home the bacon 40 hours a week."The Oceania tournament pits the Blacks Sticks against the Olympic champions and world No 2 Australia and Papua New Guinea. The lineup for the February tournament has not yet been determined but New Zealand could approach India ranked No 8 in the world. Copyright: NZPA 2007
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