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Nicholas also won People's Choice Award & Best Talent at the pageant which was held in Apia, Samoa on FRiday night.

Miss Samoa contestant Haylani Kuruppu was crowned 1st Runner Up and the 2nd Runner Up title was won by Miss American Samoa, Kauhani Fuimaono

Fuimaono also won the Miss Photogenic title.

The Miss Personality title went to Miss Nauru, Alexander Pitcher and the National Tourism Award was won by Miss Solomon Islands, Tiare Haro.

Other categories winners are as follows:

Best Sarong - Miss Samoa, Haylani Kuruppu

The announcement brings cricket into the PacificAus Sports programme, an Australian government sports diplomacy initiative in the region already involving the Olympic movement, rugby league, rugby union, football and netball.

The Australia-Pacific Cricket Linkages project will include allowing Papua New Guinea men's and women's teams to play in competitions in Australia and offer coaching and training support.

Australian indigenous teams will tour Vanuatu and engage with the community with a particular goal of getting more girls into cricket.

Toua will be in action at the Games in the women's 53kg category at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England.

Weightlifting will begin its competition on Saturday local time.

"My aim is to do my best and hopefully win a medal, that is the number one priority going into this competition," Toua, who win silver in 2018, told the Post Courier.

"Whether I win a silver or a gold medal, it doesn't matter, the biggest thing is winning and making my family and the nation proud of my achievement."

The hosts started off strongly in the game after leading in the first quarter 15-7.

The Alisi Naqiri-captained side maintained their strong defence that benefitted them a lot after extending their lead in the second quarter 40-14.

Ranked 15th in the world, Fiji also had a wealth of possession throughout the game and most of their players gave their strong performance.

The team also led in the third quarter 54-25.

Fiji will be meeting Tonga in their second game at 7.30pm (Fiji Time) tomorrow in Suva.

The side beat Tahiti 2-1 at the HFC Stadium in Suva, Sunday.

Ramona Padio’s first-half penalty put PNG in the lead just before the break.

Meagen Gunemba’s second-half breakaway finish ensured PNG advanced as group winners.

Tahiti pulled one back with a penalty to Tahia Tamarii to end the game at 2-1.

The final game in Group B takes place on Wednesday when Tahiti face Vanuatu with both teams hunting for a positive result to ensure safe passage into the last eight.

With Papua New Guinea the highest-ranked nation in the tournament and Vanuatu the lowest this was expected to be a one-sided affair but that did not prove to be the case.

PNG opened the scoring in the first half through Marie Kaipu, but Vanuatu grabbed a shock equaliser with 20 minutes to go through Vanessa Keletia.

Just five minutes later Ramona Padio gave PNG the lead and that was extended soon after by Charlie Yanding.

PNG now face on Tahiti on Sunday while Vanuatu take on Tahiti on Wednesday.

There have not been recent public revelations of the numbers of Covid cases and deaths, but at least 639 fatalities have been recorded.

From today the need for booster shots to reach fully vaccinated status are dropped - two doses will suffice.

People arriving by boat, including cruise ships, will no longer require tests within 72 hours of boarding, but they have to be fully vaccinated and will be tested on arrival.

People arriving by air, internationally or domestically, must be fully vaccinated unless they are PNG citizens or permanent residents.

Substitute Ben Waine scored the winner in his first senior international game for New Zealand from a free kick in the 75th minute.

The Wellington Phoenix player had only been on the field for less than 10 minutes when he scored from close range.

Papua New Guinea had not played an international fixture since 2019, whereas the All Whites last played in January.

The Kapuls are ranked 165 on Fifa's ranking, more than 50 places below New Zealand (111).

New Zealand had several chances to score late in the game but could not convert.

Westpac announced last year it was selling its majority shareholdings in Westpac Fiji and Westpac Bank PNG Ltd for up to $AU420 million dollars.

Its preferred buyer was Kina Securities but the PNG Consumer and Competition Commission, the ICCC, has denied authorisation for the sale to Kina Securities.

Westpac has today announced that it will continue to operate the Pacific businesses while it reviews the impact of the decision on Kina Securities.

The 2021 Digicel Cup Season was originally to begin last month but was delayed following a surge of coronavirus cases in the country.

It was then scheduled for kick-off this weekend but has been delayed a further three weeks despite officials having urged participants to adhere to strict Covid-19 protocols.

PNG's National Rugby League Competition Chair Adrian Chow says the new delay was due to members of one team being confirmed positive for Covid-19 during routine tests.