Masters gold for local team

A team of Karratha netballers have returned from major international sports tournament the World Masters Games with gold medals after going through their division undefeated.

The Red Dirt Warriors netball team beat sides from the British Royal Air Force, New Zealand and the Tiwi Islands in the 35-and-over social competitive division of the games on their way to taking out the grand final by nine goals.

Held every four years and open to sportspeople of all abilities of “masters age” — generally 35 and over — the World Masters Games is the world’s largest multi-sport event in terms of competitor numbers and was this year held in Auckland, New Zealand from April 21-30.

Red Dirt Warriors team member Natalie May said the Karratha side had dug deep to achieve their dream of winning gold, despite only playing together for the first time and two of their players sustaining injuries early in the competition.

“It was a really proud moment and you don’t realise the enormity of it until people are stopping you in the streets of Auckland and asking what you won the medal for,” she said.

“There was a bit of relief, but more importantly just excitement and knowing you’ve played a really good game to win that.”

“It was deserved.

“It wasn’t just handed to us and we earned it.”

The Karratha side played eight games, including against teams from other divisions, dropping only two throughout their campaign.

In all, 27,000 athletes from 100 countries participated in this year’s World Masters Games across 28 sports.