2019 Pacific Games

Twelve countries will compete in Rugby 7s over the two-day (12-13 July) tournament at Apia Park Stadium. The tournament kicks off at 1000hrs on 12 July with Fiji v Solomon Islands in the women’s competition.

¬¬¬Seeding for the draw was decided on rankings from the 2018/2019 HSBC Sevens Series; rankings from Oceania Sevens Championships; and the 2017 Pacific Mini Games.

The teams have been allocated a seeded position based on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.

Conducted by Football Federation Samoa, the draw used seedings based on FIFA rankings.

In the men's event, six teams had been set to be placed in Group A and five in Group B but due to an mistake on the day, five teams were drawn for Group A and six for Group B.

To rectify this, a straight swap was carried out in the match schedules between the groups.

Group A features hosts Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand under-23s, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

New Caledonia are the top seeds in Group B, alongside American Samoa, Tuvalu, Tahiti, Fiji and Solomon Islands.

National coach Sacha Duthu says after the China trip last month, they are now back in camp for intensive training.

“Two days after that we touched down to Port-Vila, we trained in the morning, and everyone was still hungry to train.

"The recent trainings have been outstanding ones in terms of how intense and how focuses we are on to train" the French native added. "We are on time in our preparations, we have two more weeks in Vila before flying to Apia on July 2nd" said Duthu.

With 24 days to go before the kickoff, head coach Bob Morris wants his players to get the little things right and understand their role in the game.

As days count down to the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, which is set to start on July 7^th, the PNG men’s soccer squad is hard at training.

Head Coach Bob Morris said players arrived in the camp on Sunday and are all excited.

With less preparation time left, they are betting on confidence and teamwork.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (MOYSD) has confirmed that Team Vanuatu is ready for the games.

“This is the first time ever that the Ministry through the Government of Vanuatu has allocated a high budget of around Vt95 Million for the Games. It is a very high commitment to make towards supporting our athletes as well as the development of Sports for Vanuatu that has never been done before,” said Johnson Toa, the Acting Director for the Department of Youth and Sports.

Athletes, officials, spectators, volunteers, and the workforce involved in the Games are reminded that the event is smokefree.

May 31, which is just 37 days until the Opening Ceremony kicks off a fortnight of sporting competition, is the annual No Tobacco Day organised by the World Health Organization.

The annual campaign raises awareness of the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure, and aims to discourage the use of tobacco in any form.

The Journalists' Association of Samoa and TV1 Samoa have this week hit out at the appointment of an overseas company as host broadcaster.

It comes after the Pacific Games Office on Sunday said the Singapore-based Melanesia Media Group had the contract.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Office said two offshore companies and one local company were approached to bid.

It did not name the local company but TV1 Samoa told local media on Tuesday that it was asked to make a proposal but only given three days.

CEO of the Games Organising Committee Falefata Hele Matatia told Newsline Samoa that Jet Over Hotel, Lucia Chalets, Savai'ian Hotel and Rosalote Hotel have been chosen for their close proximity to the boxing venue at Salelologa.

Boxing is one of 26 sports being contested in Samoa and will be held at the Catholic Church run Don Bosco School.

"When the request was put to us by government our school embraced it, it is our contribution to the government efforts in hosting the Games," said Principal of the college Father Nuku Tevita in a telephone interview with the newspaper.

Schools in Samoa from primary level to high schools have adopted a country from the 24 nations participating in the Games.

There’s also a competition for schools with three categories.

The first is for the school environment that best depicts the spirit of the Pacific Games or the Greening of the Games, making them environmentally more sustainable. The second category is for the best cheers in support of the adopted country. The final category is for poster design.