Ni Hao

Its a very soggy Rodney North again this morning, but without the humidity that the athletes in Beijing (and equestrians in Hong Kong) are battling.

Congratulations to the Black Sticks for a wonderful first up win against Korea 3-1. While Hayden Shaw stood out with his hat-trick for the Kiwis, so did Rodney-ite Blair Hopping who copped a stick from one of the Koreans and has ended up with a number of stitches.

"I got the guy's stick on his follow through. It got me across the back of the head and split me open. There's a few stitches in there, I don't know quite how many at this stage. The doctor didn't have time to tell me, he just whacked them in there and told me to get back out there.
... Hopping returned for the second half swathed, Bert Sutcliffe-style, in bandages but would have woken this morning feeling like he'd swallowed a half dozen of the local Tsingtao beers. (NZ Herald).

The Rodney athletes in action today include Barbara Kendall who will be aiming to move up from her 8th place over all in the Board Sailing after her start yesterday, Jo Aleh kicks off her campaign with her first Mistral race and Kristy Hill will be in action for the Football Ferns. For the full list of Kiwi athletes in action today go the the TVNZ website for times. One of the most exciting prospects will be Moss Burmester in his semi final.

And if all the sports action is too much for you, pop into your local library and find a good book to read. There are heaps of new titles on the shelves at the moment so come in and check them out.