Category Archives: Oceania

Known for its culinary finesse, Oceania Cruises introduced expansive vegan menu offerings and the only cold-pressed raw juice and vegan smoothie bars at sea.

The juice and smoothie bars are currently aboard Marina and Riviera and the vegan menus are available fleetwide. The vegan dishes are in addition to the lines already comprehensive selection of vegetarian, gluten-free and kosher meals.

The vegan menus are featured in the Grand Dining Room at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and include a total of more than 250 appetizers, soups, salads, entrees and desserts.

Each day at breakfast, passengers have a choice of five dishes and four sides. Examples include vegan tortilla Espaola with potato, onions and tofu; vanilla waffle with fresh berries; apricot and pistachio muffins; and cream of wheat or oatmeal served with cinnamon powder, organic sugar and choice of nuts. Always available sides include grilled tomatoes, sauted mushrooms, vegan link sausage and Lyonnaise potatoes.

Among the lunch offerings are Tuscan-style bean soup with garlic croutons; an Italian salad with assorted greens, roasted bell peppers and toasted garlic bread; and involtini stuffed with tofu, spinach and capers served with pasta and olive tapenade sauce. Dessert choices include Italian chocolate vegan-ricotta pie with vanilla and raspberry sauce.

At dinner, ever-changing five-course meals include quinoa salad and vegetable tartare, creamy truffle-flavored parsnip soup with chopped tarragon, Thai red curry with steamed jasmine rice and dessert of strawberry sable, a shortbread with passion fruit cream and strawberries.

The raw juice and smoothie bar is located on the pool deck, adjacent to Waves Grill, and serves raw, cold-pressed juices and vegan smoothies from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Choices include the Rise & Shine juice, Coco Island juice, Tropical Green smoothie, Sweet Green juice, Yellow Sunshine smoothie, Cacao Joy smoothie, Cold Brew latte, Acai Berry bowl and Chia Cashew Yogurt bowl.

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Oceania Cruises introduces vegan menus, smoothie bars - Seatrade Cruise News

TUVALUAN para table tennis player, Ioane Hawaii is gearing up for what he this will be a very exciting tournament.

The 26-year-old said he was looking forward to compete in the upcoming International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Oceania Para Championship this weekend.

"I want to improve my standings and I believe playing against the top players in the region will help me improve my game also I am really proud to be representing my country by participating in this tournament," Hawaii said.

He first took up table tennis last year as it was the only sport that he was able to play in Tuvalu because of his disabilities.

He fell in love with the game straightaway and has been working on his skills since to get him to where he is now.

Hawaii is part of a three-man Tuvalu team. His teammates are Esekia Vaega and Tanielu Soa.

Vaega and Hawaii will be competing in the class five category event while Soa will be competing in the class nine events.

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Hawaii gears up for Oceania event - Fiji Times

MAT KERMEEN

Last updated09:33, April 10 2017

DAVID WALKER/FAIRFAX NZ

Bowyn Morgan is the new IBO Oceania super welterweight champion following his impressive win over Gunnar Jackson.

Bowyn Morgan is pledging to make 2017 a defining year of a career that is now well and truly ascending.

He made a giant stride towards that goal when he delivered the most polished performance of his professional career with aunanimous decision victory over Gunnar Jacksonto lift the vacant International Boxing Organisation (IBO) Oceania super welterweight belt on Friday night.

"The sky's the limit now. We're back to where we need to be," Morgan said following his popular winat the Hornby Working Men's Club.

PHOTOSPORT

Bowyn Morgan defeated Gunnar Jackson for the second time on Friday night.

"Potentially this has opened up some really big doors for me going forward."

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Who will be behind those doors is yet to be determined but Morgan'strainer PhilShatfordis convinced Morgan is the best welterweight in the country and wants to fight anyone willing in New Zealand at the weight to prove it.

IAIN McGREGOR/FAIRFAX NZ

Bowyn Morgan and his trainer and manager Phil Shatford will take a few days off being looking at options for their next opponent.

Morgan's only defeat was a stoppage loss to Australian Kris George back in July 2016, a fight he was in control of until he got caught with a damaging blow from George. A rematch is on the Morgan camp's agenda.

Morgan, theNZNBFwelterweight champion, progressed his record to 11-1 with the victory over Jackson andsaid having a title with the IBO will open up some major opportunities at bothwelter and welterweight.

All three judges scored the 10 round contest 99-11, significantly more one-sided thanMorgan's first win over Jackson.

Morgan and Shatfordbelieve they have come a long way since that 2016 win and that proved to be the case.

As one-sided as it was on the scorecards, Jackson never stopped trying and the contest more than lived up to its lofty pre-fight expectations.

Morgan may have been the winner but Jackson did more than enough to earn his fair share of the standing ovation both fighters received at the final bell.

"To win this title here in my hometown with this support it just makes me so much more confident for future fights," Morgan said.

Morgan and Shatford paid tribute to the toughness of Jackson, whose face looked like the that of a man who had lost a one-sided 10 round fight.

Like their first fight, Morgan's powerful body punches took their toll on Jackson.

"During the third and fourth rounds he hurt my ribs quite badly but there's no excuses, we pushed through the 10 rounds and the better man one on the night," Jackson said.

In a display of pure grit, Jackson found another gear and had one of his most successful rounds in the last three minutes of the fight but Morgan put that success down to his own fatigue.

"When he started digging deep I was thinking this is my hometown and you aren't doing this to me."

Given the pace of the fight, Morgan can be forgiven for tiring in the final round but he finished the final seconds off with a flurry of punches that hurt Jackson and struck a chord with thesizeable crowd.

Morgan was happy with how he controlled the fight and his own mental toughness to continue working through the 10 rounds at a hectic pace.

"I feel like my fitness is something that will never let me down. It's like I can always go that extra mile if I needto," Morgansaid.

Jackson paid credit to Morgan and labelled the Canterbury boxer as having a "big future".

He planned to take a week or two off and spend time with his family before deciding his next move but was vowing to fight on.

"I reckon there is still a couple of more fights left in me," Jackson said.

Earlier in the night,Nort Beauchamp defeated Nikora Lee-Kingi by unanimous decision, over six rounds, to advance his record to (13-1).

-Stuff

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IBO Oceania belt brings big boost for boxing talent Bowyn Morgan - The Press

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has signed a ground breaking Strategic Investment Agreement with ITTF-Oceania.

The deal, which was signed today, involves the ITTF investing significant financial and human resources into the region to assist its commercial growth, and the popularity of the sport. Apart from through the award winning ITTF Development Program, ITTF-Oceania has not had full-time staff previously, and this investment will provide significant opportunities to grow the sport throughout the region.

ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT stated: "Since taking back the marketing rights in house and doing a strategic overview of the current table tennis commercial state, we concluded that working closer with the continents is vital for the overall commercial growth within table tennis. Oceania is the first contract of this nature, and we aim to have more exciting announcements with other continents in the coming months!"

The ITTF will work very closely with ITTF-Oceania to develop and implement their 2017-2020 Strategic Plan, with the goal of improving their Continental events, to have them all meet the quality and presentation standards set by the ITTF-Oceania Cup. Also making the sport more popular in the region through an increased push in communications overall, especially through media and social media, and ultimately to create table tennis stars from Oceania who can compete on the world stage.

ITTF-Oceania President James MORRIS added: "I am very excited with this new Strategic Investment Agreement with the ITTF. This agreement will allow more resources for our Continental Federation and our National Associations so we can all become even more capable and sustainable.

I am very pleased to see the opportunity to have more full-time staff on the ground and I applaud our President Thomas WEIKERT and his ITTF team for understanding our commitment to best practice with our soon to be adopted Strategic Plan, which aligns to this Investment very well and will have many benefits moving forward."

ITTF & Africa-Oceania Development Co-ordinator Michael BROWN, who was instrumental in making this deal happen concluded: "In recent years ITTF-Oceania has been putting a lot of hard work into developing the ITTF-Oceania Cup, which has seen considerable improvements within its commercial viability. It was evident that the improvements to these major events have assisted in building the profile of table tennis within Oceania. Through the new investment made by ITTF, these improvements will be seen across more ITTF-Oceania events, including the Championships, as well as establishing the ITTF-Oceania Tour."

This is a milestone moment in the history of table tennis within Oceania, that will create opportunities and benefits for both ITTF-Oceania, ITTF and table tennis in general.

For more information, please contact:

Email:media@ittfmail.com

As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.

These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics iswww.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only

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ITTF Signs Strategic Investment Agreement with ITTF-Oceania - Around the Rings (subscription)

Bengaluru: Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran handed India a 2-0 lead over Uzbekistan as they staved off a spirited challenge in their respective singles matches in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tie in Bengaluru on Friday.

India's Ramkumar Ramanathan during his Davis Cup match against Uzbekistan's Temur Ismailov. AFP

In the first match, 267th ranked Ramanathan overcame Temur Isamilov 6-2 5-7 6-2 7-5, while debutant Gunneswaran, ranked 187, outwitted Sanjar Fayzieb 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Ismailov is ranked 406, while Fayzieb was played in place of Denis Istomin, who had pulled out of the second round tie due to a foot injury.

To his credit, Ismailov made life difficult for the Indian despite suffering cramps in his right hamstring.

Ramkumar dominated the proceedings before a bout of double faults handed Ismailov a small opening, which the Uzbek grabbed with both hands to make a match of it.

The Indian sealed the opening set in a jiffy and was leading 4-3 in the second when he saw himself down 0-40. He saved two breakpoints but netted a backhand on the third to allow Ismailov stay alive.

The Uzbek played freely while Ramkumar put himself under pressure to finish the job quickly. The nerves got to Ramkumar and, in utter desperation, he squandered four set points and was eventually broken in the 12th game.

The Uzbek had snatched the momentum but suffered cramps in his right leg in the third set, making the job of the Indian easy. Ramkumar ran away with the third set as Ismailov's restricted movements gave him easy points.

Ismailov, though, recovered remarkably after a medical timeout and was battle ready for the fourth set. Ramkumar was always catching up with the Uzbek, holding his serves without fuss, and soon it was 5-5.

Two unforced errors by Ismailov gave Ramkumar three break chances. He converted the third when Ismailov buried a return to the net.

Ramkumar's unforced errors continued as twice he sent down double faults on match points. He though sealed the match with a forehand volley winner.

In the second singles of the day, Guneshwaran won the first, third and fourth set.

In the second set, Gunneswaran trailed Fayziev 1-4 and the Uzbek levelled the match 1-1.

Fayziev led the third set 3-1 as Gunneswaran committed some silly errors, which made his task even more difficult.

But, to his credit, Gunneswaran refused to get bogged down and raced past the Uzbek to take a 4-3 lead.

Gunneswaran won the third set, and led the tie 2-1, before he overwhelmed Sanjar 6-4 in the fourth set and sealed the match in his favour.

Ramkumar later said encouraging words from Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna helped him in getting India off to a winning start.

"Before the match I spoke to Leander and he told me to play for the country and Davis Cup is a great adventure, so give your best," Ramkumar said.

Bopanna too, "likewise", offered him an advice.

The winner of the tie will qualify for the World Group play-offs, to be played in September.

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Davis Cup: India lead Uzbekistan 2-0 in Asia-Oceania group tie after hard-fought wins in men's singles - Firstpost

Metlifecare was not the only capital markets deal in New Zealand aged care on Thursday.

It's amazing how often one company's IPO marketing makes way for an already listed rival to tap capital markets.

With Macquarie's Oceania Healthcare in the market educating Australian fund managers about the New Zealand aged care sector ahead of a sharemarket listing, rival retirement village owner Infratil spotted an opportunity.

Infratil owns 20 per cent of Metlifecare, New Zealand's second largest retirement village owner behind the $NZ4.4 billion listed Ryman Healthcare.

And that Metlifecare stake, worth about $NZ250 million, was on the block on Thursday night, with brokers seeking Australian fund managers to bid into the selldown book, as first reported by Street Talk.

It is understood Kiwi broker Forsyth Barr secured the trade at $NZ5.61.

The block trade markedan opportunistic move ahead of Oceania's bookbuild scheduled for next week. It madesense for Infratil to sweep the market for any demand,offering investors a company they already know and management team they can trust.

Interestingly, it was not the only capital markets deal in New Zealand aged care on Thursday.

As this column also revealed, Australian private equity firm Adamantem Capital made its maiden investment by picking up a controlling stake in Heritage Lifecare.

Heritage is a New Zealand aged-care and retirement village operator with 969 beds and 320 living units under management, across 19 facilities.

Heritage Lifecare's existing shareholders, including members of the board and the management team, will retain a stake in partnership with Adamantem

The acquisition values Heritage Lifecare at an enterprise value of NZ$115 million.

It's the first deal for Adamantem, the Sydney-based private equity firm set up by former Pacific Equity Partners dealmakers Anthony Kerwick and Rob Koczkar.

Adamantem reached first close on its new fund late last year, and is expected to hit a final close at about $600 million in coming months.

There is plenty of interest among private equity investors and Adamantem's rivals to see how the new firm fares. Kerwick and Koczkar were well regarded at Pacific Equity Partners, working on deals including Spotless, Griffin's Foods, Energy Developments and Tegel Foods.

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Big moves in NZ aged care ahead of Oceania IPO - The Australian Financial Review

On Wednesday, March 15th, 2017, ThrowdownTV announced their collaboration with Psyonix and RLCS to host the Rocket League Oceania RLCS Open Qualifiers.

With the announcement came a multitude of newly-found support, including a $20,000 prize pool and the chance for the Top 2 contending teams to compete at the Rocket League World Championships.

In just two weeks time from this announcement, Rocket League players of Oceania would receive the update they were all waiting for brackets were live, seeded, and ready to go all in due preparation for the 1-day Open Qualifiers.

The Open Qualifiers kicked off spectacularly with 106 completing their registrations and finding the necessary members to compete, the tournament was split quickly into four pools, for management purposes. These pools consisted of roughly 26 teams, randomly seeded from there, the top 16 teams would continue onto a top 64 bracket whittling away the teams until there were only eight teams remaining.

These top eight teams would undoubtedly be the best the Oceanic region has to offer both in skill and in determination for players, as they now face the weekly struggle of ThrowdownTVs RLCS League Play.

Coming into the day, we saw the teams whittle down extremely quickly. The strongest teams took their place at the top, knocking down anybody who stood in their path. While many players had their assumptions on who would be filling those top eight spots, every single team went into the competition with admirable determination, grit, and hope.

As the number of competing teams were slimmed down smaller and smaller with every passing completed match, we saw small upsets begin to form here and there, the underdogs were taking advantage of the small, imperfect cracks of slightly stronger teams and taking them down. However, despite the strength of the underdog teams, the strongest teams of Oceania disposed of them extremely quickly.

It wasnt until later in the day where we saw the first major upset of the tournament Corvidae versus JAM Gaming.

With JAM coming into the ThrowdownTV RLCS OCE Qualifiers considered one of the top four teams to look out for, their loss to Corvidae was a strong, confusing mixture of immense praise for the underdog Corvidae side as well as unsettlement in the competitive Oceanic Rocket League community.

Their loss meant that Corvidae solidified their spot in the League Play tournament, and pushed JAM down into the losers bracket just one more loss away from missing out on RLCS.

Theres no doubt that the day was completely packed full of incredible displays of Rocket League skill, with close games coming up left, right and center throughout both the winner and loser brackets most notably, the incredible reverse sweep that Sand Castle pulled off against the formidable Trident esports team, who seemed more collectively in-form and on-point than they had in their recent weeks.

Despite these extremely close games, however, nothing could have possibly stood out over the final game of the Open Qualifiers tournament Masterminds versus Trident esports.

With Trident esports coming into the tournament in form and convincingly strong, it was already surprising to see Sand Castle recover from their 2-0 deficit and overcome Trident who seemed to be struggling to close out games. What would ensue with the Masterminds versus Trident esports game would be far more surprising.

Masterminds were a team who had seen better days, still struggling with the leaving of up-and-coming powerhouse Kia but they were slowly beginning to look more formed, more on-point and clearly much more focused. With the line-up coming into the tournament being the new core roster of Nerd, Kamii and Requiem a core roster who had huge amounts of experience with competitive Rocket League Masterminds actually looked focused and feisty enough to take out a spot in the League Play, but the odds were weighed against them.

The Trident esports team were playing well together, just struggling to finish up games without dropping their defence.

The series saw an insane level of play from both teams, who had been playing the game the entirety of the day to get to this point. Both teams were tired, out of energy, and lacking focus but Masterminds saw cracks in the Trident esports defence, and capitalized whenever they could.

The series went into an incredible five-game total series, with the fifth game being the clear-cut decider on who would be progressing onto RLCS League Play. At the end of the day, Masterminds Requiem finished the final games overtime with a perfectly-placed shot from above the goal, which Tridents Dreameh just wasnt quick enough to defend the shot, ending the game with Masterminds taking the victory and progressing onto League Play.

With the Masterminds versus Trident eSports games finishing, we see the top eight teams progressing into RLCS League Play become outlined; these teams being 1More, Corvidae, Alpha Sydney, Masterminds, JAM Gaming, Scylla esports, Sand Castle and Legacy esports.

These teams will be competing for the next few weeks against each other, all aiming for one of the top two contending spots, and henceforth, a chance at Rocket League World Championships.

With the Open Qualifiers being a tournament full of nail-biting games, most of which displayed amazing levels of skill, its safe to say that the upcoming League Play will likely house its own fair share of upsets and eventful moments for all players involved.

If the League Play is going to be anything like the Open Qualifiers, which it may very well be, we may see one of the underdogs of the top eight securing a spot at the Rocket League World Championships an event which would be utterly incredible to witness.

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Rocket League Oceania: Open qualifiers recap - The Roar

Veteran tennis player Leander Paes was dropped from the Indian team today for the Asia/Oceania Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan that will be held in Bengaluru from April 7 to 9.

Indian captain Mahesh Bhupathi took the decision and selected Rohan Bopanna to pair with Sriram Balaji in the second round Davis Cup tie in Group 1 of the Asia/Oceania zone to be played at the KSLTA.

Leander Paes in an interview to Times Now, said, "The sport of tennis is a lot bigger than me, playing for the country is a lot bigger than me. I feel I am in good form. I won an ATP challenger tournament. I have come here to represent the country."

When asked about the strategy of having three singles and one doubles players, he said, "I think that every captain has the right to have their choice in choosing the team, especially the best team that can put forward for the tie. For me, that criteria should remain a constant. It should not fluctuate, and it seems to fluctuate a lot in this case."

While Paes has been dropped out, Bopanna and Balaji will feature in the doubles match against Farrukh Dustov and Sanjar Fayziev. Bopanna is ranked 23rd in the world 34 spots above Paes.

This is the first time in 27 years that Leander Paes has been dropped out of the Davis Cup tournament. He debuted his Davis Cup against Japan in 1990. He is currently locked at 42 with Italian legend Nico Pietrangeli and is one win away from the record for most doubles wins in Davis Cup history. (With inputs from Agencies)

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Davis Cup: Mahesh Bhupathi drops Leander Paes from Asia/Oceania Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan - Bangalore Mirror

07 April 2017

Vector Wins Asia-Oceania Financial Performance Award

Auckland based energy company, Vector, has won a Platinum EEI Asia-Oceania Index Award in Washington D.C. for superior and sustained financial performance.

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies in addition to having numerous international members. The EEI assessed 44 Asia-Oceania utility companies for their performance over three years based on rigorous financial metrics in small, medium, and large capitalisation categories. Vector CEO, Simon Mackenzie, accepted the award for the small capitalisation category yesterday at the International Utility Executive Summit.

Its a significant accomplishment for Vector to be recognised by a major organisation like the EEI, and against tough international competition, says Mr Mackenzie.

Vector is owned 75.4 per cent by Entrust, on behalf of Aucklanders who are also our consumers. That plays a huge part in the way we approach our business and the balance we must achieve.

Were in a great place being able to provide good shareholder returns, while investing ahead of the sector in new energy solutions that will deliver better service, choice and control than ever before.

Our financial performance will continue to support an ongoing programme of investment both in our current network and in new solutions that take Aucklanders into a new energy future.

Mr Mackenzie is also part of a delegation led by the Energy Minister, Hon Judith Collins, examining international trends in energy innovation, technology, and sustainability.

ends

Scoop Media

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Vector Wins Asia-Oceania Financial Performance Award | Scoop ... - Scoop.co.nz (press release)

STU PIDDINGTON

Last updated17:48, April 4 2017

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ

South Canterbury will be well represented at the Oceania championships in Brisbane(from left, at rear) Ella Benson, Sophie Lowen, Keaton Swindells, Jan Kuepper, Leah McDonald and Ariana Snook, (front, from left) Charli Nevin, Roshean O'Connor and Charlotte Clarke.

South Canterbury speed skaters will form the basis of the 26-strong New Zealand team to compete at the 2017 Oceania championships in Brisbane.

Ten junior and cadet skaters from Timaru will be vying for titles over Easter.

Last year in an impressive performance South Canterbury skaters won more Oceaniatitles than the whole Australian team.

It could however be a tougher prospect this year with the Australianshavinghome advantage on the roads of Brisbane.

Also South Canterbury will only have under 20 and under 14 representatives, withsenior sprinter Dale Christofferson away.

Christofferson is in Europe for amonth competing in some big races in France andGermany, plus the Slovenia national championships.

Five of the six junior girls are from South Canterbury, along with the well performed Renee Teers from Wanganui.

Leah McDonald is the defending junior champion over1000m, 10,000m points and marathon and will be favourite again having had some impressive performances in the build-up.

Arianna Snook is another juniorlooking for titles after winning the open 10,000m and20,000m road races at the New Zealand championships in Auckland inJanuary.

Snook is however recovering from a recent compartment syndrome operation on both legs and is not 100 per cent fit but is still likely to be in the mix.

Sophie Lowen is also back after a long term shoulder injury, sustainedfrom a kayaking accident, but after winning threenational titles should also be a good chance of a podium finish.

The Kiwi juniors will face a tougher assignment however as three Australians girls gained valuable experience at last year's junior world championships, while New Zealand had no female representatives.

In the junior men the talented Jan Kuepper should be more competitive as it his second year in the grade.

Keaton Swindells made a clean sweep of the cadet boys' races last year, but the 15-year-old steps up into the junior grade and will face competitors up to fouryears older than himself.

Upper Hutt's Hadley Beech Upper Hutt and Sam Portchfrom Palmerston North will alsorace in the junior men's grade.

In the cadet girls (under 14), Ella Bensonstarts out as favourite after winning two titles last year, with the other title holders moving up into the junior ranks.

Charli NevinandRoshean O'Connor are both determined competitors and could feature prominently in the longer events.

Palmerston North's Serenity Griffith is likely to be a contender in the sprints while three Nelson skaters,Holly Ward, Lydia Stack andOcean Collinson-Smith make up the seven-strong cadet girls team.

Timaru's experienced Bill Begg will coach the team with Rebecca Smith fromWanganui his assistant.

The South Canterbury presence in the team is completedwith managerChristene Swindells and Lisa Snook as her assistant.

-Stuff

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Young South Canterbury speed skaters hunting medals in Australia at Oceania Championships - The Nelson Mail