Pacific Games 2015

With PNG ranked seventh and fifth for the men and women respectively at the 2011 Games, Nauru has  not participated since 2003-2011.

The women team, known as Valivas, will head on to the court at 5pm while the men will play their game at 7pm.

PNG Valivas will be banking on key players Betty Angula, Nesta Sape and captain Marca Muri who have been outstanding in the previous two matches.

Nauru has Shania Ika, Kerina Adam and Jeiziannie Deraudag to power them on.

Malek Chamoun (Australia) a blind weightlifter, raised the bar at 139kg to top the snatch challenge.

The silver medal was won by Petuna Opeloge (Samoa) and Liam Larkins (Australia) got bronze. 

PNG's best lifters in the 85kg snatch were Jarah Matagu Gabi and Lelo Nou Rei. Medals for the clean and jerk are being contested

PNG struck first on the wing through Nadya Taubuso and then hit from the opposite wing thanks to the brilliance of captain Diane Vetu.

Samoa hit back just before the break to get back in the game.

New Caledonia won silver while Wallis and Futuna won bronze.

PNG came fourth in this event, conducted from the harbourside area.

This has completed the Va'a finals. V12 and V6 relays will be conducted on Saturday and Sunday at Ela Beach.

One goal in the first and another midway through the second half set up the win for PNG.

There were early  worrying signs for PNG when strike player Tommy Semmy was taken off the field for some minutes,  but PNG surged on to bring home the points.

PNG’s  Jacob Sabua took on the Solomon Islands backline and stole the ball to dribble into attack and score PNG’s second for a lead of 2-0.

The Solomon Islanders rallied and got back in the game when Timothy Bakale caught the defence napping and powered a low ball from the wing into the nets.

Mea spoke straight after winning two gold medals for PNG a few minutes ago.

She was emotional, with tears in her eyes. She thanked everybody who had supported her during her 11 years in the sport.

"I want to thank my former coach Douglas Mea, OWF coaching guru Paul Coffa and my family," Mea added.

Also thanking all Papua New Guineans who bought tickets and came to support, she added.

The Hanuabada lady has defended her champion ranking in the 69kg division.

New Caledonia's Titiuan Puyo won silver while Jacky Tuakafenua won bronze.

In the women's 500m V1 race, Tahiti's Brenda Vaimiti won gold while New Caledonia won silver and Cook Island grabbed bronze.

Meanwhile the women's and men's 500m V12 finals are underway.

It took PNG's strike player Tommy Semmy  to score PNG's first goal at the Pacific Games midway through the first half.

Semmy had several more chances to score, going one on one with the keeper but was unlucky.

 The Solomon Islanders came equally close to scoring but goal keeper Ismael Pole has so far managed to keep the ball  from getting past him.

Another one of Pole's saves got him injured and he had to be taken off on a stretcher by medics in injury time. 

Heading the push for precious metal are our golden fish Ryan Pini (54.21 sec) and Sam Seghers (56.09 sec) for the men 100m butterfly.

Seghers is the fastest behind Pini in this event.

Shanice Paraka (32.75 sec) and Anna-Liza Mopio-Jane (32.88 sec) for women 50m backstroke. Emma Terebo of New Caledonia was the fastest in this event with a new Games record of 29.86 sec. The previous record was 30.28 sec.

Morea clocked 3 minutes in his heat 1 event of 2:58 sec.

Jacky Tuakoifenu from Wallis and Futuna came first with 2:38 sec, Gary Volau from Fiji in second place with 2:37 sec while Ketson Kabriec from Northern Marianas finished 3rd with 2:56 sec.

Meanwhile the men's finals will be played soon.