sports

The conference included discussions across a range of topics around culture, health, education and sports.

PMN News reports Tall Blacks Coach Pero Cameron says the Pacific talent pool is large but needs to be nurtured.

​“It’s just exciting to be a part of this movement, it’s the first time having a sporting panel," he says. 

“They’ve asked to see how we can generate ideas and create bigger pathways for our talented kids.”

Today's panels included a focus on how important it is to create Pacific pathways in sport. 

Cricketers in Papua New Guinea and Fijian footballers were among a host of sportspeople forced to train in isolation or small groups, in an effort to maintain social distancing.

But dozens of key support staff that help Pacific Island sporting organisations operate were also told to head home - back to Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian Volunteers program repatriated 450 people working across the Indo-Pacific region, of which a significant number were based in the Pacific Islands working with local and national sporting federations.

This comes as the Vanuatu Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee today received assurances from the prime minister's office that a freeze on their funding had been lifted.

The President of VASANOC, Antoine Boudier, said this was some relief, but he wanted assurances there wouldn't be further freezes.

He said the government's Financial Intelligence Unit was behind a stop on their funding in October which meant VASANOC could not meet basic expenses.

The Program is a joint initiative by Cricket Australia, Netball Australia and the International Cricket Council, funded through the Australian Government's Pacific Sports Partnerships Innovation Funding.

It brings together female leaders from across the sports sector from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga.

Twenty women representing 13 different sporting organisations will spend the week developing their leadership skills through sport, to directly impact on the lives of young women and girls in their communities.

RNZ reports yesterday marked one year until the scheduled start of the Games in Port Vila.

The construction of the main Korman complex had suffered a series of delays since Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu in March last year.

The CEO of Van2017 organising committee, Clint Flood, said they would like to be further along in their plans but good progress is being made.

The consolidated financial results for the fourth year of World Rugby's 2013-16 business cycle saw the highest turnover in World Rugby's history and record rugby investment as rugby participation topped a record 7.73 million, almost double the figure at the start of the cycle.

The results demonstrate a higher than anticipated revenue of nearly £345 million.

The growth in revenues reflects improved broadcast and sponsorship markets for RWC 2015 and a higher tournament fee from the RFU.