Coffa blames lapse on pressure

 OCEANIA weightlifting mentor Paul Coffa has blamed the high expectation from the hometown crowd for the below-par performances by Commonwealth Games champions Dika Toua and Steven Kari. 

He said Toua should not have been allowed to climb the 50 stairs at the Games opening ceremony last Saturday.

Toua and Kari failed to make a clean sweep as expected of their respective weight divisions.

Toua failed to dominate the 53kg division on Sunday and managed only one gold medal. Kari settled for second place in the snatch although he later recovered in the clean-and-jerk event with a lift of 204kg.

Coffa told The National that Kari and Toua were under pressure.

“There was a lot of pressure on both kids, a lot of expectations. It was hard on both of them.

“Dika should never have been in the opening ceremony walking the stairs at 11 o’clock in the evening. That’s just impossible to get results the next morning doing this sort of exercise.

“Steve (Kari), it was very unlike of him in the snatch but he came out good, the pressure was too much on him. People expected him to win easy. It’s not easy – this is an international tournament, the biggest in the Pacific.”

Coffa said weightlifting was the true international sport of Papua New Guinea.

“Overall, the Games have been a success in weightlifting, the best.”