|
Sports |
SP Games over
By HENRY MORABANG
THE French territories
of New Caledonia and Tahiti continued their domination of
regional sports by winning the majority of medals at the XIII
South Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa, which ended yesterday.
The two territories collected at least 127 gold medals (Tahiti
44 gold) to finish first and second respectively followed by
host Samoa (44 gold) and neighbours Fiji (39 gold).
Papua New Guinea, the biggest country in the South Pacific,
finished a lowly fifth place, being outplayed and outran in
second-week events where we had at least expected gold.
However, PNG SP Games general manager Numa Alu said yesterday
that Team PNG had “performed exceptionally well”, adding that it
was the best prepared team to have left PNG to take part in the
South Pacific Games.
“Credit must go to all the athletes. The performance and the
results reflect on the good lead-up preparation and the
financial backing from the government and the stakeholders
towards the Games,” he said.
“I must thank all the sponsors for the backing,” he said.
Alu said all the sports have contributed well to the Team PNG
overall medal tally of 38 gold, 10 silver and 32 bronze medals.
He said sports such as power lifting did not deliver as promised
because they came with expectations too high to realise - they
only delivered two gold medals.
n To Page 43
Alu also noted that athletics performed below their expectation
however the team contributed eight gold medal, eight silver and
11 bronze medals to finish fourth behind Fiji, New Caledonia,
Tahiti while host Samoa and Cook Island complete the equation.
He said that overall Team PNG achieved the goal set prior to the
Games and that was to finish in the top five and better the gold
count of the previous Games in Suva, Fiji, in 2003, which was 33
gold medals. We bettered that by five gold medals.
PNG Sports Federation general secretary Sir John Dawanincura is
also pleased with Team PNG’s performance.
“We cannot ask for more as the team produced what was on offer
during the two-week long SP Games,” he said.
However, Apia SP Games statistics showed that on the second last
day (last Friday) of competitions, New Caledonia had amassed a
whopping 86 gold, 68 silver and 64 bronze for a total of 218
medals compared with Papua New Guinea’s 36 gold, 22 silver and
31 bronze for a total of 89 medals.
 
|
