| Sports |
Five out of six boxers pick up two
gold, three bronze medals
TWO boxing gold medallist Jack Willie
(48kg) and Francis Oaike (51kg) had to fight off bouts of
malaria and then step inside the ring to win their respective
events on Saturday at Gymnasium 1 of the Taleafa Sports Complex,
Apia, Samoa.
Team manager Nick Callibud said after their win that ìwe were
lucky nothing nasty had happened in the ring,î
Both fighters, Willie and Oaike outscored their respective
opponents from the neighbouring Solomon Islands respectively.
Callibud said he had to treat these two boxers with malaria
tablets before their fights.
Willie from Madang won his fight when the referee stopped the
contest (rsc) in the second round while his countryman from
Bereina, Oaike won his fight in a similar fashion in the third
round.
Out of six PNG boxers who fought in various divisions, five won
medals which is 90% success rate for the team, a very pleased
Callibud said.
Eugene Keto picked up bronze in the 54kg (batamweight) Jack
Sandy Ofoi in the 57kg (feather weight) and skipper of the team,
Toksy Seteme collect his bronze in the 69kg (welterweight)
Jeffrey Koredong was the only boxer who did not pick up a medal.
Team technical official Dick Larry also said he was happy with
the team’s performance.
Larry said his boxers will have to keep training and upgrade
their skills on the new techniques which were the major
contributing factor behind Samoa’s gold medals bonanza at the
gymnasium during the finals.
Samo won six of the 11 gold medals on offer while the other two
went to PNG and also Tahiti with New Caledonia winning one.
 
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