Glasgow bronze medalists Tayla Ford and Sam Belkin lead a seven strong New Zealand wrestling team for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.
Bronze medallists in wrestling Sam Belkin & Tayla Ford. Photo: NZ Olympics
Five Games debutants have been selected, Toby Fitzpatrick, Ana Moceyawa, Michelle Montague, Akash Khullar and Brahm Richards.
28 year old Ana Moceyawa says she's been working towards Games selection for the past three years.
"I've been focussing on this since 2015 so I feel like all the hard work has paid off. I'm feeling really positive about the Games, my goal is to make the final. I've put all the right processes in place to get to the final and now I just have to trust in my training and do my thing."
New Zealand Olympic Wrestling Union Technical Director Iain Adamson expects the team to perform well at the Games.
"This a great mix of experienced wrestlers and exciting young talent. We have high hopes for this team with many doing well at the Commonwealth Champs in South Africa and the Oceania Championships in Tahiti last year," he said.
"This will also be a great experience for the Games debutants and one which we expect to greatly contribute to their future in wrestling."
The naming takes the total number of athletes in the New Zealand team to 160.
Ford won bronze in the women's 58kg category at Glasgow and will compete in the 62kg class on the Gold Coast.
This will be Belkin's third Commonwealth Games after finishing 4th in Delhi in 2010 and third in Glasgow in 2014.
