Hockey
A second Olympic Games is on the horizon for Wairarapa’s Dane Lett after New Zealand came from behind to beat Pakistan 3–2 and qualify for Paris 2024.
The Black Sticks were staring down the barrel of joining their female counterparts in missing out on the Games when they trailed 2–1 at three-quarter time in the do-or-die third-place playoff in the qualifying tournament in Oman.
Two goals in the last eight minutes – the first to Hugo Inglis and then Scott Boyde with two minutes to play – put the Black Sticks ahead, with the nervy Black Sticks doing enough to deny Pakistan in a thriller.
Should Lett, who has 116 international caps, make the 16-man squad for Paris [and it would be a surprise if he didn’t], it will be his second consecutive Olympics after being part of the team that finished ninth at Tokyo in 2021.
