Athletes primed for Pacific Mini Games
ATHLETICS Papua New Guinea’s 38-man squad are primed to take to the track and field during the Pacific Mini Games in Saipan, Northern Marianas, from June 21-25.
The team of 24 male and 14 female athletes will head to Saipan in three groups this weekend from Port Moresby, Brisbane and Los Angeles, United States (US).
Thirteen US-based athletes and coach Nelson Stone will travel to Saipan via Honolulu and Guam with some stopping over in Los Angeles this weekend for a final lead-up competition.
A total of 20 athletes are competing in the Oceania Championships in Mackay, Queensland, this week.
The highlights so far have been:
- Debono Paraka’s national record of 53.33m in the men’s discus;
- An outstanding 10,000m performance by Siune Kagl; and,
- An impressive 400m time by multi-event athlete Karo Iga. Young middle and long distance runners Adolf Kauba and Aquila Turalom are also in good form and running personal best times.
PNG is set for a strong showing in the men’s long distance events especially the 3000m steeplechase and 10,000m.
Four athletes clocked times of under 10 minutes for the steeplechase in Port Moresby last weekend, led by Turalom (nine minutes, 40 seconds), Israel Takap (nine minutes, 44s), Wilford Baia (nine minutes, 52s) and Abel Siune (nine minutes, 59 seconds).
Dilu Goiye and Baia are expected to join Kagl in the 5,000m and 10,000m.
Pacific sprint champion Toea Wisil is not in her best form and her recent times have been well below her best, however, she remains determined to do her best in the Games.
PNG does have good back-up in the sprints with Leonie Beu and Isila Apkup.
In the men’s sprints the big question will be whether Fiji’s Banuve Tabacaucoro can hold off the challenge of Leroy Kamau and other PNG sprinters in the 200m.
Fiji has relied heavily on its star sprinter in the past few Pacific Games, but like Wisil, his recent times have been below his best.
Tabacaucoro has been improving in the 100m with every race and he will be the man to beat in this event.
But not much is known about his 200m form and it will be interesting to see if his experience will see him through what is expected to be a strong challenge. Rellie Kaputin only recently returned to Australia to prepare for the Games and is a little rusty after nine months back in PNG.
But there has not been any Pacific Islander close to Rellie in the horizontal jumps in recent years other than Annie Topal and PNG’s hopes will again rest on the East New Britain pair to win gold.
National record holder Peniel Richard will start as favourite in the men’s triple jump and PNG will have three men contesting the long jump, including Roland Hure, who won gold in 2017, Richard, and Eldan Toti.
Multi-event athletes Edna Boafob and Iga have shown good form since going to the Gold Coast at the end of April for training, with Boafob showing good progress in the 100m hurdles and long jump.
These events combined with her strengths in the 200m and 800m should see her post a much better score in what will be her first heptathlon since her debut in this event in the 2019 Games.
Iga is expected to be very competitive in the men’s octathlon after showing good form in a range of events recently.
He ran an outstanding 400m of 48.68s in the Oceania Championships on Tuesday.
Federation president Tony Green thanked sponsors PNG Air, Kumul Consolidated Holdings, Prima Smallgoods and the National Sports Institute their support in preparing a strong team for the Games.
He expressed confidence that the team would improve on its gold-medal totals from Vanuatu 2017 and Samoa 2019.
Green also thanked PNG Sports Foundation chief executive Albert Veretau for his support to the athletes who have been in camp in Port Moresby.
He said preparations had been extremely challenging for sports, and thanked team managers Kylie Martins and Sharon Atuai for their hard work.
“Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that all of the team members meet the Coronavirus-related travel requirements and reach Saipan smoothly,” Green said.