Stone trains athletes

Sports

OLYMPIAN and 400m national record holder Nelson Stone is helping train athletes during the Covid-19 state of emergency (SOE) which has been extended by two weeks.
The Pacific Games champion, who competed at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, turned his attention to coaching in Port Moresby last year.
Using his Tokarara home to train athletes, the 36-year-old’s group includes 2019 Pacific Games team members Daniel Baul and Eldan Toti, and young sprinter Leroy Kamau, who burst onto the scene in 2017 with some outstanding 200m times.
Despite the cancellation of this year’s Melanesian Championships along with all international athletics events this season, they are maintaining their fitness in readiness for the resumption of competitions.
Athletics Papua New Guinea president Tony Green said in a statement that the calendar for this year and 2021 was being updated and a revised edition would be circulated soon.
“At this stage, the PNG Air National Championships are still scheduled for the third-term school holiday in September but the number of regional championships will be reduced,” he said.
“The National Sports Institute has again offered to host the Highlands-Mamose Championships and this is being put back to August to allow athletes time to prepare.”
Commending Stone for the initiative, Green said he was pleased that athletes had been staying fit during the SOE.
He was particularly pleased to hear that Kamau had resumed training as he was an athlete with great potential.
“Leroy ran some great times as a junior and we had high hopes for him but he put his athletics career on hold in 2018 to focus on his Grade 12 studies,” Green.
“After playing rugby league, Kamau resumed athletics training when he relocated to Port Moresby last year.”