POSTING MORE PICS ON EARLIER BLOGS

JUST for your information, I will be posting a few more pics in my earlier posts.

I was not able to do that in the past few weeks and am now sieving through pics I have got.

Some of them were taken by Andrew Molen of the PNGOC Media Unit.

Merci.

THE FINAL MEDAL TALLY: SEPTEMBER 12

SORRY for the delay in posting the final medal tally of the Games, as provided by the Mini Games Organising Committee.

Since getting back to work, I have been quite busy sorting out a good number of things and was not able to post all that I wanted to. (I am still not done with all the bits and pieces that I have to do back here in Port Moresby.)

There are a few news items (about the Games) that I will post in the next couple of days.

After that I will try to recall some special moments and observations on the Mini Games and the people who converged there for the event. 

Thanks.

See the medal tally below:

ARE YOU A STUDENT?

IF you are a student visiting this site, you might want to check on tips to help you in your studies in my other blog - "Privilege Learning Systems" (in blogspot).

I have posted some tips/guide to help you prepare for your exams.

Cheers.

ONE MORE PIC

ONE more photo.

Photo: Youths of Wallis entertaining the crowd at the Kafika Stadium during the closing ceremony.

PICS OF CLOSING CEREMONY

HERE are some pics of the closing ceremony on Sept 12.

Photo: PNG and Fiji athletes pose for a photo before marching into the Kafika Stadium.

Photo: PNG and other teams marching into the Kafika Stadium for the closing ceremony.

MINI GAMES CLOSE WITH SONGS AND DANCES

FOR SEPT 12 ...
THE 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games was officially closed on Thursday afternoon in a colourful ceremony at Kafika Stadium in Wallis and Futuna.

Pacific Games Council president Vidhya Lakhan thanked the government of France, the local government at Wallis and Futuna, its people and sponsors for making the 10-day event a reality.

Photo: Wallisian dancers entertaining the teams at the closing of the Mini Games.

Twenty of the 22 countries and territories in the Pacific participated in these Games where PNG topped the medal tally with 30 gold, 26 silver and 31 bronze medals.

Next was Tahiti with 26 gold, 9 silver and five bronze while New Caledonia got 21 gold, 13 silver and nine bronze. 

American Samoa was the only state that did not win a medal in the ten-day competition.

“What a wonderful two-week we had with spectacular performances from athletes in this game,” Lakhan said.

Lakhan paid tribute to a Wallisian who first proposed to the council to host the Mini Games.  

“This is a dream come true for Wallis and Futuna. In 2003 Viane Otahu, a Wallisian, made the bid to host the Mini Games here. Today his dream has become a reality.”

Lakhan spoke the feelings of many in saying “we will take with us a lot of good memories of Wallis and Futuna and the wonderful, friendly people of the islands”.

The ceremony started with delegations from different countries walking one half of the stadium, followed by the lowering of the Mini Pacific Games flag with it being presented to Lakhan who then passed it on to the chief executive officer of the next Mini Pacific Games Joe Kalo.

The 2017 IX Mini Pacific Games will be hosted in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

The presentation was followed by traditional songs and dances performed by Wallisian locals.   

AMOA MEN ARE CHAMPIONS IN VOLLEYBALL

FOR SEPT 11 ... 
AMOA PNG men’s team is now the champion in the Pacific after beating Wallis and Futuna 3-2 in the last day of competition in the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games in Wallis and Futuna.

Photo: Amoa PNG's Richard Kila Rupa leaping to smash a ball past a Wallis and Futuna blocker in their gold medal playoff on Sept 11.

It was a hard game for the Eagles yesterday (Wednesday), but the ability to remain focused and prayerful saw the PNG team walk away the winner and winning the gold medal.

Wallis and Futuna came on strong from the start with hard hitting spikes from their big hitters to end the first set 25-16.

PNG came back in the second set and pushed the Polynesians to end the set 27-26.

In the third, the PNG team made simple errors and bad passes that the home team took advantage of and it won that set with a 25-20 score line.

With coach Tommy Luis urging from outside and the cool and never-say-die captain Ravu Mahuru from the inside, Amoa got into the game and dragged the islanders to end the fourth set 25-19.

In the last set, Amoa members played with care and led from the first few hits all the way to end the game 15-11.

Meanwhile, Amoa PNG women’s team was unsuccessful in their pursuit for the bronze medal by losing to Fiji 3-1.

Fiji won the first set, PNG came back on the second and pushed Fiji overboard to win 25-18. However, that was all that PNG could manage as their Melanesian sisters won the two other sets.

Fiji won 25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 25-14.  

In the gold medal playoff, Tahiti beat New Caledonia 3-0. The Polynesians looked too strong on the day firing from all parts of the court.

In the men’s bronze playoff, New Caledonia was too good for Tuvalu, walking away with a 3-0 score.  

TONA WINS GOLD IN TAEKWONDO

FOR SEPT 11 ...
GOLDEN girl and Olympian Theresa Tona lived up to expectation when she beat her New Caledonian opponent to win the gold medal in 53kg division in taekwondo in the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games in Wallis and Futuna.

That was not the case for her other team mates in Team PNG attending the 2013 Mini Pacific Games in Wallis and Futuna where they lost most of their fights to Tahitians who dominated the competition.

On Monday a number of PNG fighters qualified to enter the finals but lost their fights for the top medals.

In the 63kg (M), Pinnie Rainier lost his fight to Marshall Islander Sam Jason (9/13) (M). In the 80kg, Isabio Detroch lost to Tahitian Huaatua Manu (2/14) and in 74kg category, Kama Gordon lost to Tahitian Babka Peter (16/2).

Female fighter Franscilla Kokin won a bronze for the U68kg (W).

On Tuesday Tona added the first and only gold medal from team taekwondo to PNG’s haul of medals by beating New Caledonian Gavin Lindsay. The fight went into extra time after the two fighters drew but Tona was first to strike and gain points to walk away the winner.

Altogether the men won four silver and two bronze medals while the women won one gold, eight silver and six bronze medals.

In the team event, the men won a silver while the women won the bronze. 

The other medal winners include Maximillion Kassman (54kg M, silver), Collan Kokin (74kg M, bronze), Chatterton Roberts (+87kg M, bronze), Freda Stafford (46kg F, bronze), Grace Soatsin (49kg F, bronze), Anne Clement (57kg F, silver), Stephanie Kombo (62kg F, bronze) and Geraldine Mala (73kg F, bronze).

As of yesterday morning (Tuesday), PNG was leading the medal tally with 29 gold, 26 silver and 29 bronze with Tahiti on 25, 9 and 5  while New Caledonia is on third place with 18, 10, 17.    

PUKPUKS MISS BRONZE

FOR SEPT 11 ...

TEAM PNG rugby 7s narrowly missed out on the bronze medal by losing to Tonga 19-12 on Wednesday in the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games.

Wednesday was a long day for the Pukpuks 7s as they first took on Fiji in the first of three matches to qualify for medal playoffs.

The Pukpuks tried to hold up against Fiji but lost 24-15. Eugene Tokavai was injured in the game and taken to the hospital but returned later to the field to be with the team after being cleared of any serious injuries. 

In the second match the Pukpuks met Tuvalu and made sure that they got as many points as they could by beating the islanders 50-0.

In the third game, they went up against a favourite Tonga 24-10.

Placed after the three, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga, the Pukpuks played the first semi-final match against Samoa.

Unlike on Tuesday, they did not allow the Samoans to merely walk over them and put up a good fight with Albert Levi making a good run up the middle and outrunning the Samoans to score the first try for the Crocodiles after trailing 14-0 six minutes into the game.

Unfortunately, the Samoans were a bit too good and the final score for that match was 49-14.

In the other semi-final match, Fiji beat Tonga 24-5.

Tonga then played PNG for the bronze and the Pukpuks narrowly missed winning the medal by losing 19-12.

In the gold medal game, the bigger-sized Samoans beat Fiji 31-12. At half time, Fiji was trailing 24-0.  

With those results, the final ranking sees champions Samoa on 24 points, Fiji 20, Tonga 18, PNG 14, New Caledonia 13, Wallis and Futuna 10 and Tuvalu 9.   

MEDAL TALLY

AS of Sept 10, the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games Medal Tally stands as:

PNG ... 29 Gold 29 Silver 26 Bronze;

TAHITI 25/9/5;

NEW CALEDONIA 18/10/7;

SAMOA 12/5/11;

FIJI 11/12/15/

KIRIBATI 7/1/4 ... ETC

AMOA PNG MEN FLY OVER NEW CALEDONIA

FOR TUESDAY, SEPT 10 ...
AMOA PNG men’s team may soon be the champions of volleyball in the Pacific after beating favourites New Caledonia 3-2 in their last round of competition in the 2013 IX Mini Games in Wallis and Futuna.

Photo: Amoa PNG's Eric Itama slamming the ball through the New Caledonia blockers in their game. PNG beat the 2010 Oceania champions.

The 2010 Oceania champions came into the first set with spectacular hits from front and back court to beat PNG 29-27.

The French territory players used their height and size advantage and continued their attack by taking the second set 25-19.   

Coach Tommy Luis spoke to his players after the second set and they started getting into the game by blocking the power hitters of New Caledonia and paid closer attention to their passes.

As a result, Amoa PNG won the third set 25-19 and continued the tempo into the fourth set by winning 25-19.

Possibly through the humidity that had a toil on their opponents, PNG came strongly in the last set to walk away 15-6.

PNG will possibly meet the same team or Wallis and Futuna in the gold playoff tomorrow.

PNG women, however, did not do well and lost to New Caledonia 3-0.

New Caledonia looked more confident in their game and beat them in the sets 25-13, 25-14 and 25-16.

PS. Amoa means Eagle in a number of languages along the Rigo and Aroma coasts of Central Province in PNG.

PUKPUKS END FIRST DAY ON GOOD NOTE

FOR TUESDAY SEPT 10 ...

TEAM PNG rugby 7s team ended their first day of competition on a good note by thrashing struggling Wallis and Futuna 46-0 on day 7 of the 2013 Mini Pacific Games in Wallis and Futuna.

Hat tricks to speedsters Tisa Kautu and Hubert Tseraha saw the Pukpuks completely in control of the last game of the day.

Tseraha opened up the scoring just over a minute into the game at Kafika Stadium by running up the left flank.

It did not take long for other tries to follow from Tisa Kautu, Roland Namo, and Albert Levi before Tisa closed the first half with two more tries, one of which was converted successfully.

At half time PNG led 34-0.

Good play by players by the Pukpuks in the second half piled on another 12 points to wind up the day with a 46-0 score line.

The day though did not start well for the Pukpuks 7s when they were thrashed by Samoa 40-0 in their first game.

In their second game, the Crocodiles fared better and beat New Caledonia 26-14. Outstanding players in the game were Levi, Namo and Tseraha.  

PS. The National Rugby team of PNG is called the Pukpuks, which means Crocodiles in Tok Pisin, the PNG creole.

RUGBY AND TAEKWONDO TEAMS ARRIVE

FOR MONDAY SEPT 9 ... WEEK 2 ...
TEAM PNG rugby 7s and taekwondo athletes arrived on an Air Niugini charter on Saturday.

Rugby 7s will start their competition today (Tuesday, Sept 10) while taekwondo began theirs today. The PNG rugby team will play three games tomorrow.

The team had two practice sessions, at 8.00am and midday, yesterday and look fit for the competition.

Team manager Michael Bai said the players are injury free and ready for the games.
Most of today’s rounds for taekwondo are elimination fights but a few may be contests for medals, given that competitors are few.

Teams that participated in athletics, weightlifting and va’a returned yesterday to Port Moresby from Wallis and Futuna via Nadi (Fiji). Their competitions lasted only for the first week.

The medal tally more-or-less remains the same as last Friday since all sports played on Friday and Saturday are not into the finals yet. Such sports included volleyball, beach volleyball and sailing.

 

Note: I may send more details about the taekwondo fights later this afternoon. The fights are still going on. 

WALLISIAN PHOTOGRAPHER

WHILE most of PNG was getting prepared to celebrate its 38 years of independence, six-year-old Paulo Uveakovi of Wallis was seen wearing a PNG Independence cap with wristbands and equipped with a sophisticated-looking camera walking around Hihifo Airport in Wallis, Wallis and Futuna, last Friday looking for objects to shoot. 

In this picture Paulo can be seen checking one of his shots before training his camera on PNG athletes and officials attending the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games who were getting ready to board the Air Niugini charter bound for home.

BOTH MEN AND WOMEN WIN IN VOLLEYBALL GAMES

FOR MONDAY SEPT 9 ...

MOA PNG women’s team recovered from their 3-0 loss to Tahiti last week to walk over Tuvalu at 3.00pm local time yesterday (Monday 09/09/10) in the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games in Wallis and Futuna.

The Eagles played much better against Tuvalu to win the first set 25-11.

In the second set, they lost focus a bit and Tuvalu came back into the game and won it 27-25.

Coach John Kombeng said thereafter the girls stopped making simple mistakes and beat Tuvalu in the third and fourth sets.

“They lost focus and kind of played around a bit in the second set.  But they recovered and stopped making mistakes and won the rest of the sets,” Kombeng said.

Kombeng said it was likely that PNG women’s team is fourth on the points ladder after Tahiti, New Caledonia and Fiji and there was a chance of PNG making the medal playoffs.

“This is also the first time that a PNG women’s team has made it up this far, to take the fourth placing in a Pacific Games,” he said.

The final scores were 25-11, 25-27, 25-14, 2511.

AMOA PNG men’s team beat Tuvalu in their game later in the afternoon.

They won the first and second sets, 25-16 and 25-20 respectively. However, they were not allowed by the Tuvaluans to walk away easily with a victory when the Polynesians beat them in the third set with a score of 25-17.

Good blocks and front court play by Kato Otio, Veupu Kila, Eric Itana, Richard Kilarupa and captain Ravu Mahuru in the fourth set lifted Amoa PNG to fly over the Tuvaluans 25-21 and won the game 3-1.

  

AMOA PNG BEATS WALLIS AND FUTUNA IN VOLLEYBALL

FOR FRIDAY SEPT 6 ...
AMOA PNG men’s team shocked Wallis and Futuna in the IX Mini Pacific Games when they defeated the 2011 Pacific Games gold medalist 3-1 on Friday in a packed newly-built Kafika Omnisport Hall in Wallis and Futuna.

The Tommy Luis coached side started the evening well in surprising the champions by their fast attacks to wind up the first set with a 25-17.

The Wallis and Futuna side tightened up their defence and started to attack PNG in the next set to win it with a 25-17 score line.

 

Photo: Amoa PNG captain Ravu Mahuru in attack against Wallis and Futuna on Sept 11. The PNG team won 3-1.

In the third set, Amoa worked hard to block off the big power hitters of the islanders. The PNG team continued with fast attack play as well as putting up solid blocks which demoralised the bigger sized Polynesians.

The third set ended with the Amoas winning 26-24 with captain Ravu Mahuru leading his hitters with the attack and setter Gia Kapa directing the passes. Other team mates contributed equally well to pull the game their way.

The fourth set continued with hard hits from Wallis and Futuna but the PNG team put up solid blocks and breaking the Wallis and Futuna services to collect points.

By keeping their calm, the PNG team won their third set of the match with a 25-21 score line.

Coach Luis said the win was a big one for Amoa PNG.

“Beating the number one team in the Pacific is a big win for us,” Luis said.

“The morale of the team is good and the boys are looking forward to their games against Tuvalu and New Caledonia next week.

“We will not take any team lightly though.”  

The Amoa PNG women’s lost their game to Tahiti 3-0 with scores 25-9, 25-14 and 25-17.

The men’s team now leads the points ladder in volleyball since they are undefeated after three games.

PNG WOMEN MADE CLEAN SWEEPS IN 800m AND 400m

TEAM PNG athletics almost made a clean sweep of the relay events on the last day of athletics and day 4 of the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games by bringing in a total of 10 gold, five silver and two bronze medals.

Photo: PNG's Poro Gahekave leading in the women's 3,000m steeplechase. - Picture by PNGOC MEDIA UNIT

In the women’s 4x100m relay on Friday (September 6), the side led by Betty Burua and Toea Wisil, with Adrine Monagi and Helen Philemon took out the gold by stopping the clock at 46.75s. Fiji followed closely with 47.34 and Vanuatu 50.32.

In the women’s 4X400m, Burua, Toea, Shirley Wunatup and Donna Koniel led the pack and came home to win the gold before Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

In the men’s 4X100m, the Kupun Wisil-led side came first to clutch the gold in a time of 41.75s after Team Fiji was disqualified, despite their anchor and fastest man in the Pacific Banuve Tabakaucoro cruised over the line first.

PNG pushed Fiji in the men’s 4X400m race and managed to claim the silver medal. Tabakaucoro was in the Fijian team that won that event.       

Early in the morning Sapulai Yao won the silver in the half marathon, while team mate Kasper Simbai finished fourth.  

Boino, the Oceania champion won the top medal in his favourite 400m hurdles and managed to grab another in the 110m hurdles. Raymond Koniel followed Boino not too far behind in the 400m hurdles and collected the bronze.

Burua grabbed the gold in the women’s 400m hurdles and her fellow athlete Koniel bagged the silver. Burua also collected a gold in the triple jump with a best jump of 11.95m.

In the men’s high jump, third-year Divine Word University student David Jessem won a silver with a leap of 1.96m. Isikiel Waga from Fiji took the gold with a height of 1.98 and New Caledonian Makatuki managed to go over 1.87m.

Toea Wisil stamped her authority in the 200m finals by stopping the clock at 24.12s. She was followed by Cook Islander Patricia Taea (25.67) and Fijian Elanoa Sailosi (25.25).

In the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, specialist Poro Gahekave took out the gold and team mate Mariana Peter took the bronze. 

ATHLETICS BRING IN MORE MEDALS

FOR SEPT 5 ...

ATHLETICS won one a gold, a silver and a bronze medal for PNG in day 3 of competition at the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games in Wallis and Futuna.

The gold was brought in by two of the girls who were part of the trio who made the clean sweep in the 800m finals yesterday.

However, yesterday they reversed the order.

Poro Gahekave who took the bronze in the 800m yesterday took out the gold while the top 800m finisher yesterday Jenny Albert settled for the silver.  The third in the magic trio Tuna Tine finished a bit later in the race.

Later in the day, Bulolo boy Andipas Georasi managed to clutch the bronze in the men’s 1500m race.   

Team manager Sophie Marai said that tomorrow, which is the last day for events in athletics, would be a hard long day for athletics since a good number of events would be staged.

The events tomorrow would include the heats and finals in 200m, hurdles events for both men and women, and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. 

The heptathlon would also conclude tomorrow and the PNG competitor Eunice Steven has progressed well in winning the 100m hurdles, high jump and 200m in the eighth-event race and looks certain to win a medal. 

KARI ADDS TO HAUL ON DAY 3

FROM SEPT 5 (DAY 3):

TEAM PNG’s Steven Kari led the weighlifting team in day 3 of the 2013 IX Mini Pacific Games by bringing home three gold medals.

The Nouméa-based athlete from Hanuabada won a gold each in the snatch, clean and jerk and total of the 94kg division in the last day of weightlifting competition.

Photo: Kari executing the snatch. He won three golds in the 94kg men's division.

 

Later in the day, two female lifters, Lorraine Harry and Sandra Ako, competed in the women’s 75kg division.

Together they won three bronze medals – Ako winning the medal in the snatch and Harry clutching the other two, in the clean and jerk as well as the combined total.

On day 3 for all events, PNG won 4 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze bringing the total of medals won so far to 18 gold, 11 silver and 18 bronze medals.

Chef de Mission Richard Kassman said he was hopeful that with the way Team PNG was going it things were looking good.

“We should collect more medals tomorrow and from Taekwondo and Rugby 7s when their competitions commence next week,” he said.

The Amoa PNG woman’s volleyball team beat Wallis yesterday evening 3-1 after losing to Fiji 0-3 yesterday.

Note: The Amoa PNG men’s team is getting ready to play Wallis. The game starts later this (Sept 5) evening. It would be a tough match. Wallis are the volleyball champions in the Pacific. 

- PNGOC MEDIA UNIT