Wisil eyes Glasgow medal

 PAPUA New Guinea sprinter Toea Wisil is hoping a wave of sporting success from her fellow countrymen will follow her into next year’s Commonwealth Games.

When Wisil won the 100-metres final at the national championships in Sydney in April, she become the first athlete from Papua New Guinea to hold an Australian track title.

Now the sprinter, who turns 26 on New Year’s Day, is setting her sights on another first, by winning a medal for PNG at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next July.

It would be the culmination of a remarkable journey for a young woman who grew up in the Western Highlands where opportunities for education were limited.

“I didn’t finish my school but through sports I’m here in Australia. I’m trying to use sport to do other things in future, trying to finish my schooling, and get some education,” she said.

With English as her second language, Wisil has been on a steep learning curve since coming to Australia to further her sporting career.

The 100 and 200 metre specialist trains under the watchful eye of her Australian coach, Lloyd Way, in Brisbane.

“It’s a marvellous story what she’s done, from where she’s come to where she is now,” he said.

“At one time it was difficult to get her to understand just what you wanted with training, now she’s got the capacity to tell you what she wants from training sometimes, which is what a senior athlete should do.”

At home in PNG the local media gave Wisil the title Queen of the Track after she won five gold medals at the Pacific Games in New Caledonia.

Then she carried her country’s flag at the opening ceremony for the London Olympics, and followed that up by storming to a win in her opening 100m heat, before missing out narrowly on a semi-final spot.

At the last Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Toea was just four hundredths of a second away from a bronze medal in a race from which her former training partner, Australia’s Sally Pearson, was controversially disqualified.

“I came fourth at the Commonwealth Games in 2010,” the 25-year-old said.

“It gave me more confidence towards next year and I’m hoping to win some medals for PNG.”

The task ahead is tough though, with the most of the world’s best sprinters coming from Commonwealth countries.

So Wisil has knuckled down to a rigorous training routine that often requires her to be on the track shortly after first light, but the path isn’t always a smooth one, although coach Lloyd Way says she’s in a good frame of mind at the moment.

“When she’s in a good frame she’s lovely to coach,” he said.

“But when she’s not in a good frame, she’s difficult.” – ABC