SOFTBALL ACTION – GET YOUR FIX ON MĀORI TELEVISION!

17 April 2008

Some of the finest softball in the world is played right here in Aotearoa-New Zealand and now the sport will really get the attention it deserves in POIUKA O AOTEAROA 2008 – a season of softball premiering on Māori Television on Sunday April 20 at 2.00 PM.

Presented by seasoned sports broadcaster Te Kauhoe Wano, the series gets off the mark with three weeks of coverage from this year’s national women’s and men’s league finals played in March at Wellington’s Hataitai Park. Then it’s on to the crème de la crème of the softball world as triple world champions, the fearless Black Sox, launch their campaign for the next World Championship to be held in Saskatoon, Canada, in 2009.

To do that, the New Zealanders will need to come up trumps at the ISF Oceania qualifier tournament, in Albany, Auckland. Only the top two teams will go through and Māori Television will carry all the matches from the Albany event in POIUKA O AOTEAROA 2008. “Our world champion men’s softball team, the Black Sox, will be endeavouring to qualify from our world zone to win their fourth world championship,” says producer Robbie Neha.

Each two-hour show will feature softball tips from former Black Sox shortstop, Dion Nukunuku – a player of immense experience and skill who was on the team for all three of their world champion victories. The show will also profile some of the country’s finest male and female softball players in the game today. Softball New Zealand statistics show there are around 30,000 players in this country, and around two-thirds of those are in youth grades. They estimate that the majority are Māori.

Don’t miss all action when POIUKA O AOTEAROA 2008 screens on Māori Television every Sunday at 2.00 PM from April 20.

Ends

Merilee Andrews
Kaiwhakaputa (Publicist)
Maori Television
DDI +64 9 539 7092
EML: merilee.andrews@maoritelevision.com