| Sports |
Fiji dominate 100m in both men and
women
By HENRY MORABANG in Apia,
Samoa
FIJI outran Papua
New Guinea in the 100 metres sprint in both men and women events
yesterday at the South Pacific Games in Apia to maintain their
dominance in the region.
Fiji’s evergreen Jone Delai (10.66) and Iowane Dovumatua (10.71)
beat PNG’s Wally Kikira (10.74) in the men’s sprint while
favourite Makelesi Bulikobo (11.55) edged out Mae Koime (11.57)
in the women’s to set a new Games record.
Toea Wisil finished third to collect bronze medal in time of
12.00sec.
In the men’s 100m the win was special for Delai who celebrated
his 40th birthday yesterday, and at 40 he would be among an
elite few in the world still in the race for such an event.
Our women champ Koime said after her race that she couldn’t
believe she was beaten at the finishing line by Bulikobo after
leading all the way.
“I am shocked,” Koime said.
She said she has a long way to go and will make up for it at the
2009 mini SPG in Wallis and Futuna, and also in the SP Games
2011 in New Caledonia.
However, the PNG queen of tracks was happy with her run
yesterday.
“It is over and done with. Now I have to look forward for the
new challenge,” she said.
Koime’s coach Lloyd Way said it was always going to bea tough
race as expected, and it was a good race between the two top
world-class athletes in the region.
Way said he was disappointed by the false start by Fiji Sera
Tuinalase which impacted on the eventual performance of Koime.
“Koime needs concentration and such false start has denied her
the gold medal. She will now wait for another two years to make
amends,” he added.
In the women’s 800m, PNG made a clean of the first three placing
- Salome Dell (gold) in a time of 1.12.98, ahead of powerhouse
Cecilia Kumalalamene (2.16.35) for silver and Ann Mooney for
bronze in time of 2.16.62.
In the 10,000m, Sapolai Yao collected his second medal – a
silver - after finishing second to George Richmond of Tahiti.
Richmond won the race in a time of 33.29.41 while Yao 34.06.22
and Sam Lavi of Vanuatu collected bronze in a time of 35.05.47.
Overall, Team Athletics collected two gold, three silver and
three bronze medals yesterday to add to the overall PNG
progressive medals tally.
 
|
