.JPG?itok=pJDxtvsf)
A 400-plus University of Queensland contingent will converge on the Gold Coast for the 2017 Australian Uni Games (AUG) from 24-29 September.
More than 8000 students from 42 universities will participate at the event, with 397 students and 25 non-playing officials to represent Team UQ.
UQ will field a total of 39 teams in 23 sports.
Hockey player Alice Lane has been selected as UQ’s team captain for a third-consecutive Uni Games, having led UQ at the preceding 2017 Northern Uni Games (NUG) and 2016 AUG events.
Lane said UQ’s team will be the largest she has captained at a Uni Games event.
“It's exciting to be back on the Gold Coast and to have close to 400 athletes representing Team UQ is amazing,” Lane said.
“We are all really looking forward to having home state advantage and getting around and supporting our fellow UQ athletes.”
Lane will feature for UQ’s women’s hockey team, gold medal winners at 2017 NUG in Rockhampton and Yeppoon.
Lane said the squad is confident of again contending for a medal.
“We've been really fortunate this year to have retained all our team members from NUG, so we haven't had to start building our team from scratch.”
“We'd love to be able to bring back another medal for Team UQ but we’ll just have to take each match as it comes.”
For the first time at AUG, UQ will compete in futsal, and cheer and dance.
Cheer and dance captain Rebecca Robins said her squad looked forward to testing itself.
“We've got a mix of new and experienced athletes, and they're all incredibly excited to experience Uni Games for the first time as the inaugural cheer and dance teams to compete for Team UQ,” Robins said.
“We only get to compete against most of these teams once a year at National Championships, so it's great to have the additional opportunity to test our skills and see what other universities bring to the floor.”
After a five year AUG absence, UQ will be represented in golf, while UQ will also field teams in badminton, cycling and volleyball after last competing in 2014.
UQ finished sixth overall at 2016 AUG in Perth, winning champion honours in swimming, sailing, mixed touch and beach volleyball.
2017 AUG fixtures and results will be published on the Australian University Sport website.
2017 Australian Uni Games – UQ teams:
- Athletics (Men & Women)
- Badminton (Men & Women)
- Baseball (Open)
- Beach Volleyball (Men, Women & Mixed)
- Cheer and Dance (Mixed)
- Cycling (Men & Women)
- Fencing (Men & Women)
- Futsal (Men)
- Golf (Men)
- Handball (Mixed)
- Hockey (Men & Women)
- Judo (Men & Women)
- Rowing (Men & Women)
- Sailing (Open)
- Softball (Women)
- Swimming (Men & Women)
- Table Tennis (Men & Women)
- Taekwondo (Men & Women)
- Tennis (Men & Women)
- Touch (Men, Women & Mixed)
- Ultimate (Men & Women)
- Volleyball (Men)
- Water Polo (Men)
Media: Jamie Mitchell, UQ Sport, JamieM@uqsport.com.au, 0423 785 752.
