PNG dumps Wisil

By PETER PUSAL
PAPUA New Guinea and Oceania’s leading female sprinter Toea Wisil will not compete at the Commonwealth Games.
Athletics PNG president Tony Green said the 30-year-old champion was omitted from the national athletics team for the Gold Coast event because her form had been poor over the last six months despite winning a gold medal in the 100m and coming second in the 200m at the Pacific Mini Games in Vanuatu last year.
He said Wisil had also committed a serious breach of team and Games protocol by not turning up for the 200m medal presentation ceremony at Korman Stadium, Port Vila.
“Despite winning the 100m and placing second at the 200m, Toea’s performances at the Pacific Mini Games were not at the standard which she expected and her disappointment at finishing second in the 200m was expressed by her non-attendance at the medal ceremony,” Green said in a statement yesterday.
“Toea has since realised that this was not becoming of an elite athlete and someone who prides herself on being a role model for others. For an athlete who has been so dominant in the Pacific for many years her disappointment was understandable, especially given that she was feeling the pressure and high expectations of a whole nation.
“However, non-attendance at a medal presentation is a significant breach of protocol that is viewed very seriously, hence the Athletics PNG executive felt that punitive action was necessary and decided to withdraw Toea from the team.”
Green said Wisil, who is currently training at the National Sports Institute in Goroka under American coach Dior Lowry, would now focus on next year’s Pacific Games in Samoa and the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
“We are however happy to see that Toea has now re-focused her commitment to training by relocating to the National Sports Institute where she has set her sights firmly on the 2019 Pacific Games and qualifying to attend her third Olympic Games in Tokyo,” he said.
Green said the decision taken by APNG had the backing of the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee.
Coach Lowry said Wisil, who was told about the decision last week, had accepted the decision and knew that she needed to gather herself for the challenges to come.
“Toea was told (about her omission) a week ago and she took it pretty well,” Dior said from Goroka yesterday.
“She knows her fitness levels were not up to par and so she’ll stay here and train. She’s got a lot of growing to do as well but she’ll get there.”
Dior agreed Wisil had acted inappropriately when she was a no-show at the women’s 200m medal presentation at the Mini Games but added that it had been a valuable learning experience for the Jiwaka woman.
Green and Dior confirmed that Wisil had severed ties with her Australian coach Tony Fairweather in November.
Meanwhile, Fairweather told The National that he had been having difficulties training Wisil last year and had finally decided to cut ties with her a month before the Mini Games.
“Things just fell apart last year,” Fairweather said. “She wasn’t doing the things I needed her to do. She was doing only six to eight hours of training a week when she needed to be doing 20 hours, things like that,” Fairweather said from the Gold Coast yesterday.
“She needed to change her attitude and I sat down with Papua New Guinea national coach Dior Lowry and her but nothing came of that.”
Fairweather said he had achieved some strong results in his two years with Wisil including winning the 100m and 200m titles at the Oceania championships but said he felt his hard work had been wasted.