Olympics hopeful Kaputin edges closer

Sports

JUMPS athlete Rellie Kaputin took a huge leap towards securing the single place available for Papua New Guinea in the athletic competition in the Tokyo Olympics with a season’s best long jump of 6.42m in her second attempt at the Festival of Athletics in Townsville on Saturday.
Townsville was the scene of her greatest triumph in June, 2019, where — in her sixth and final jump at the Oceania Championships — Kaputin leapt 6.5m to snatch gold from Australia’s Brooke Stratton.
Coach Phillip Newton reported that things looked good on Saturday for Kaputin to improve on her mark of 6.42m as her first and third jumps were also over 6.30m and all three jumps were all from well behind the take-off board.
However, Rellie felt a slight twinge in her hamstring and passed on her last three attempts rather than risk aggravating it further.
A final decision on who will be PNG’s representative in athletics in Tokyo will be announced no later than July 1 which is shortly after the close of the official qualifying period.