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At the basketball, also at Cowles Stadium, the New Zealand women beat Australia, 91-65, to notch the host country's first win in the sport. New Zealand led 45-26 at half-time and is now in the running for the bronze medal.

About 100 interpreters have been trained in Christchurch over the last year. The classes were organised by the hearing people but the deaf were the teachers. It is only the second time that New Zealand sign language has been taught in this country.

New Zealand deaf sports competitors and officials must build on the successes and achievements of the 16th World Games for the Deaf which ended in Christchurch on Monday, the games committee chairman, John Macdonald, said today.

New Zealand swimmers Kathryn Olsson and Anva Cosgrove made their first appearance in the pool in the 100m freestyle. They finished fifth in their respective heats and failed to make the finals.

Although many people will not have heard of the World Games for the Deaf, New Zealand's involvement with them spans 40 years. The first information about the games reached New Zealand in 1949 and the New Zealand Amateur Sports Association was formed.

New Zealand showed how much it has improved in the soccer tournament at the World Games for the Deaf when it took two goals in the last 5 min by Australia to beat it in the play-off for ninth place at English Park today.

Kiwis were the friendliest people on Earth, the president of the International Silent Sport, Mr Jerald Jordan, told the opening of the sixteenth World Games for the Deaf on Saturday.

The 1400 officials and competitors at the World Deaf Games will be well attended by a large group of medical doctors, St John Ambulance officers, physiotherapists, podiatrists and masseurs. Drug and gender tests will also be a part of the workload.

A magnificent success is how organisers described the World Deaf Games in Christchurch. The 112-member New Zealand team – the biggest yet – won seven medals.

New Zealand will have to struggle to send a team to the next World Games for the Deaf because of the huge cost of staging the 1989 event which ended at Queen Elizabeth II Park yesterday.

A crowd of 4000 cheered and waved as about 1400 athletes and officials resplendent in national colours marched into the stadium as a reminder that the first World Games for the Deaf were held in Paris in 1924.

Three officials of the World Games for the Deaf pause to toast the success of the venture, as teams from more than 30 countries arrive in Christchurch.

An obituary on Margaret Coutts who was "the mother of deaf sports", an active leader and strong positive role-model to younger members of the Deaf community. She was the first female president of the Christchurch Deaf Club, and was awarded a NZ Commemoration Medal for her contributions in 1990.