Pacific Mini Games

Vanuatu’s Yoshua Shing wins Outstanding Male Award at Mini Games

The panel of judges chose Shing who won four gold medals in the four events he competed in and Firisua won three gold medals in the 10kilometres, 5 kilometres and the half-marathon ahead of other strong contenders.

The awards for Outstanding Young Male and Female went to Clement Mainguy of Vanuatu (tennis) and Fiji’s Eileen Cikamatana (weightlifting).

14-year-old Mainguy helped his team win gold while Cikamatana won three gold in her weight category and also set new Commonwealth and Oceania records in weightlifting.

Being dual nationals an honour for female athletes

This year, netball featured some outstanding athletes in the Van2017 games along with two dual national athletes from Vanuatu.

Meriel Kenni and Selina Solman are both Vanuatu National cricketers who have now made their debut in the National Netball team making them two of the few athletes from Vanuatu who are dual national sport representatives.

Both women, who are of Tannese descent, hold leadership roles in the two respective sports with Solman as the captain of the National Women’s cricket team and Kenni as the National Netball captain.

Tahiti absence 'damaging' to Mini Games brand - PGC

The French Polynesian government announced in October it would boycott the event, which concluded in Port Vila Friday night, because of a dispute over which boxers should represent Tahiti.

Athletes from boxing and rugby sevens agreed to attend the Mini Games under a neutral flag, in defiance of the government's position, however the rugby team never made it to Vanuatu.

The CEO of the Pacific Games Council, Andrew Minogue, said Tahiti's absence had a significant effect on the Mini Games.

Pacific boxers bring out their best

Vanuatu boxer, Robin Peter, was tough and fast to hit his Fijian opponent Rokobuli Nemani right in the head.

Nemani, also fast, quickly answered with some of his own punch points to Peter.

During the second round, Peter tried his best to win by way of a knock out but Nemani did well in blocking his attempts.

After the final round, Peter was able to win the bout on point counts.

NEW CALEDONIA VS TOKELAU

Despite Tokelau fighter, Eraiski L, being very strong, the New Caledonian boxer, Jean T was able to beat him in a strong boxing match.

PNG, Tonga men’s beach volleyball teams too strong

In the men’s competition, Tonga and Papua New Guinea were the victors in the early matches.

Tonga defeated Tuvalu in a close match where Tonga looked promising in the first set but Tuvalu stepped up their performance, winning the second set. In the third, Tonga came back with energy that dominated Tuvalu which resulted in Tonga taking the win.

In the second match, Papua New Guinea took on Solomon Islands and dominated the match from the beginning not giving the men from the Solomons a chance, taking the first set and then the second in convincing style 21-16.

Fiji’s Winston Hill too powerful for Vanuatu’s Naiu Martin

Hill's crafty footwork helped him win the fight after both boxers had a good start and threw some powerful shots at each other. However, Hill opted to move around the ring and then launched surprise attacks on his opponent.

"Boxing is a sport where anything can happen and for me I came really prepared to face Vanuatu's best and he was good," Hill said after the fight.

"He was fight fit and ready and so was I in the fight."

In perfect snyc for gold

In the heart of Korman complex, flags were waving in the crowd as para-athletes took their spot on the starting line, ready to take off at the sound of the starting gun.

Sylvain Bova, a vision impaired runner from New Caledonia, was positioned in lane one and took his mark with his guide, Germain Haewegene, by his side as they prepared to sprint for gold in the Men’s 100m ambulant final.

Twelve seconds and thirteen milliseconds later, they crossed the finish line in perfect sync with each matching the other’s stride.

Beach volleyball starts to unveil contenders

On Tuesday’s fixture, six games took place down at the new Korman courts,which started early and as scheduled 9am and entertained the crowd for over four hours of action and excitement in both the Men’s and Women’s competition.

Solomon Islands Women’s team won its first game taking the match two sets to nil against Tuvalu. The second match between the hometown heroes of Vanuatu and Wallis & Futuna was unsurprisingly dominated by Linline Matauata and Loti Joe taking the match two sets to nil.

Athletics draws crowd on first day of competition

In the Men’s 400m Hurdles, PNG had a good result winning both the gold and the silver with Boino Mowen finishing in a time of 52.44 secs followed by Lerkin Ephraim in53.00 seconds.

Tongan Talatala Pooi secured the bronze with a time of 54.69 seconds.

“It’s not common for a Tongan to achieve a medal in Athletics. I tried my best and I hope my people are happy with what I’ve achieved” said Pooi.

Tahiti suspended from the Pacific Games Council

The suspension was unanimously agreed by the Pacific Games Council's General Assembly during a meeting in Port Vila yesterday.

In a statement, the Council said French Polynesia's government had interfered in the autonomy and independence of sporting associations, which culminated in its decision to boycott the 2017 Mini Games in Vanuatu.