Kari bags 2 gold

Sports

WEIGHTLIFTER Steven Kari added two more gold to Papua New Guinea’s medal tally with an impressive show of strength in the men’s 96kg at the Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa, on Saturday.
Kari claimed gold in the clean and jerk category as well as the overall standings after collecting an impressive total of 198kgs on the final day of competition at the Faleata Sports Complex.
Wallis and Futuna’s Israel Kaikilekofe finish second with a total with 193kg and Samoa’s Maeu Nanai Livi won bronze with 181kg.
Kari finished second in the snatch with 156kg and Kaikilekofe finished on top with 161kg. Samoa’s Nanai Livi took out bronze with 153kg.
The fierce battle between Kari and Kaikilekofe went down to the wire, with PNG getting the edge in the overall standings.
Spectators cheered with just 1kg separating the duo in the overall category.
Final results saw Kari win gold with a total weight of 354kg and Kaikilekofe claimed sliver with 353kg. Bronze went to Samoa’s Maeu Livi.
Kari also claimed Oceania (senior) and Commonwealth (senior) gold while Kaikilekofe set a new Oceania junior record with his total lift of 353kg.
Meanwhile, Sanele Mao, the Commonwealth senior record holder and gold medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, represented Samoa and won gold.
He set four new records, including breaking his own Commonwealth record.
Mao lifted strongly to break the Oceania and Commonwealth senior clean and jerk record of 206kg and the Oceania and Common Wealth senior overall record of 366kg.