2017 Pacific Mini Games

Their fights will commence at 1pm local time (12pm PNG time) and first up will be Tamasi Kami in the over 91kg against Samoa. He will be followed by John Ume in the 64kg against Nauru.

Andrew Aisaga in the under 69kg will fight at 7pm this evening against Solomon Islands.

The final PNG bout will see Lucas Wakore in the under 81kg, going up against a Tahiti boxer representing the Pacific Games Council (PGC).

These are all quarter final-matches with the winner going through to the semi-finals the tomorrow.

Kaputin stamped her authority on the event from the start with a Pacific Games record of 6.20m, followed by a wind assisted 6.40m to win by over 60cm from Annie Topal and Adrine Monagi.

The clean sweep in the long jump was a great moment for PNG as the poles had all three PNG flags rising in the middle of the stadium.

Peniel Richard was also in fine form in the men’s high jump winning the silver medal with a season’s best of 2.03m whilst junior athlete, Roland Hure placed fourth with a personal best of 1.94m.

PNG also did a clean sweep in the long jump event, claiming gold, silver and bronze.

Track and field events at the VAN2017 Pacific Mini Games got underway today as PNG showed their class out on the field and tracks as well.

Toea Wisil’s brother, Kupun, competed in the 100 metre event where he managed to make the finals for a chance at a medal.

Boino gave some valuable lessons to the younger athletes in the 400 metre hurdles as he came in first in his heat, automatically qualifying for the finals tomorrow.

PNG is still ranked third on the medal tally, closely following Fiji whilst New Caledonia has leapt ahead with 28 gold medals under its belt.

The community had the opportunity to meet and talk to Team PNG athletes and officials and expressed their support for the team.

The table tennis competition concluded on Saturday night at the Korman indoor stadium, where Loi and Simoi really proved their worth at the VAN2017 Pacific Mini Games.

Making the gold medal play off against the host nation was more than the team could ask for.

Vanuatu proved too strong, winning 2 sets to one, causing PNG to settle for silver while New Caledonia’s Adrien Cerveaux and Jeremy Dey got bronze.

Vanuatu claimed another gold in table tennis with Ham Lulu and Yoshua Shing collecting gold in the men’s doubles to retain their title.

New Caledonia is still maintaining the top spot with 24 gold medals.

Fiji has now displaced PNG with 15 gold medals under its belt.

PNG is currently on third spot with 14 gold medals, with Samoa nipping at her heels.

Host country Vanuatu brings up the rear with 8 gold medals.

Today is rest day. Matches will resume tomorrow. 

PNG still has 14 gold under its belt whilst NCL is dominating the event with 25 gold medals to its name.

Samoa is breathing down PNG’s back with 13 gold medals with Fiji close on her heel.

More updates to follow…