national record

Paraka breaks national record in hammer throw

The 26-year-old, who already holds the shot put and discus records added over three metres to the hammer throw record of 34.62m set by Vipi Sejuk at the 1993 Pacific Mini Games in Vanuatu .

The new mark of 37.95m was achieved on his third and final throw and was witnessed by a small group of athletes and officials including Athletics PNG President Tony Green.

Hammer throw is an event rarely conducted in PNG and for safety reasons competitions are usually conducted in isolation from main track and field competitions.

14 records set by PNG swim team

The 6-day competition saw the world’s best swimmers from more than 175 countries take part from December 6-11.

The PNG team consisted of 7 swimmers: Livingston Aika (19), Stanford Kawale (21), Ryan Maskelyne (17), Shanice Paraka (17), Ryan Pini (34), Ashley Seeto (28) and Sam Seghers (22) with coach Greg Fasala, manager Sarenah Pini and physio Matthew Natusch.

Personal best times were swum with 4 Age (17 years), 1 Senior (18-24 Age), 7 Open and 2 Masters (25-29 Age) national records set.

Seeto recalled his experience from the Championships, saying it was amazing.