SHANNON ECKSTEIN NAMED CAPTAIN OF AUSTRALIAN LIFESAVING TEAM FOR WORLD GAMES

May 4:Shannon Eckstein was today announced captain of the Australian Lifesaving Team set to travel to Chinese Taipei in July for the 2009 World Games.

Some of the stars backing up from recent Australian team tour of South Africa include World Ironman Champion Eckstein, Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironwoman Naomi Flood, Australian Ironwoman Kristyl Smith, former NSW Ironmen Chris Allum and Nathan Smith and Ironwomen sensation Elizabeth Pluimers.

It has been a long 12 months of competition and training for the Ironmen and Ironwomen stars whose top form in South Africa saw the Aussies win all three tests at International Surf Rescue Challenge.

They will be joined by some of the country's top pool rescue athletes including Commonwealth Pool Lifesaving Record holder Andrew Bowden, Jenny Parry and Mitch Parkes who all formed part of the formidable Australian Team that won the World Championships in Germany last year.

Both Andrew and Mitch will be fresh from competing against the world's top pool lifesavers at the Commonwealth Pool Lifesaving Championships in Edmonton, Canada in June.

Under the World Games format (which contests a shortened program to that of the World Lifesaving Championships) Australia will head into the competition ranked number two behind arch rivals New Zealand.

"New Zealand are once again going to be very hard to beat and you can be sure they'll have some very strong competitors in the pool events," he said.

"Heading into the event ranked number two is defiantly going to put our team under pressure, but I think we have a very strong team who will step up.

"The pool rescue events will be our toughest battle - but we have people like Andrew Bowden who is swimming very well and we made some great steps forward at the World Championships in 2008 so we just have to keep moving forward," said Eckstein.

While there isn't much Eckstein hasn't done in his surf lifesaving career, this will be his first World Games and he admits he's excited about it.

"It is something new and different for me which will be good and I'm really looking forward to competing alongside the other Australian teams representing their sports.

"I've had four weeks off so I'm looking forward to getting back into training," he said.

The last time Australia and New Zealand went head to head was at the World Lifesaving Championships in 2008.

Competition was close with Australia trailing for most of the Championships before storming home on the final day of competition to secure the title and the number one world ranking.

SLSA Head Coach Brett Dowker said competition at the World Games will be tough and the Aussies will have to work hard to finish on top of the ladder.

"At the last World Games in 2005, our Australian team had a strong fight on their hands with the Europeans outclassing us in the pool rescue events," said Dowker.

"I think the team we've assembled will see us perform well across all events and I'm confident we will walk away with the overall trophy once again.

"Having been at the top of the rankings for the past four years, it is unusual for our team to head into an event sitting in the number two position.

"But I believe it will just add to the incentive for our team to go even harder and knock New Zealand off the top to take back to back World Games titles," he said.

Australian Team Manager Jeannie Baxter-Reid said the fierce rivalry between Australia and New Zealand would ensure an exciting competition across all events at the World Games.

"These athletes are the absolute cream of the crop and we're certainly hoping this will be one of their best performances at a World Games," Ms Baxter-Reid said.

"When you look at the individual talent in the team and their performances to date, we believe we're in a very strong position to snatch back the title and restore Australia's position as the World's top lifesaving competitors."

The World Games will be held in Chinese Taipei 20-26 July 2009 - for more information visit http://www.worldgames2009.tw/wg2009/eng/index.php.

The Australian Lifesaving Team for World Games is:

Shannon Eckstein (Qld) - Captain
Chris Allum (NSW)
Andrew Bowden (NSW)
Felysia Konakoff (NSW)
Naomi Flood (NSW)
Ben McCauley (Qld)
Mitch Parkes (NSW)
Jenny Parry (Qld)
Elizabeth Pluimers (Qld)
Kristyl Smith (Qld)
Nathan Smith (Qld)
Sarah Windsor (Qld)