‘Please step up’

Federations urged to pull up their socks for 2019 Pacific Games

BY ROMULUS HUTA

Morris Maitaki of NOCSI delivering a presentation for national federation members during Tuesday’s meeting.

SPORTING federations who have submitted entries to be included in ‘One Team Solomon’ for next year’s Pacific Games in Samoa have been urged to step up in their preparations.

Morris Maitaki, who is the Chef De Mission (CdM) of ‘One Team Solomon’ for Pacific Games 2019 made the call during a meeting yesterday.

The meeting which was held at the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI) conference room was organised by the National Selection and Justification Committee (NSJC) for national federations, purposely to convey to them important information relating to preparations for next year.

The NSJC is a committee established under the Events Commission of the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI) and its main responsibility is to advise the local olympic committee’s executive board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities on matters relating to preparation of athletes and the ‘ONE TEAM SOLOMON’ in particular, for future regional and international competitions.

Mr. Maitaki said federations must step up in their preparations to attain good results during the games.

“We want to send a team that will go in to compete and not as tourists.

“It’s time that we set our targets higher to attain good results and surpass the ones produced in previous games.

“On this note, I call on all federations to step up in their training as we head toward next year,” Mr. Maitaki uttered.

Over the next few months, the NSJC will begin assessing the federations to ensure that they are ready to compete at the event due to run in Apia next July.

A total of 24 federations have submitted entries to join the Solomon Islands contingent for Samoa Games. They are Athletics, Basketball, Badminton, Boxing, football, golf, Judo, Netball, Powerlifting, Rugby League 9s, Rugby 7s, Sailing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Touch Rugby, Triathlon, Va’a, Volleyball (Indoor & Beach) and Weightlifting.

Following the initial entries of athletes and officials submitted in July to the 2019 Pacific Games Organising Committee as part of the games registration requirement, the current number stands at 636 across all sports for the entire contingent and it doubles the total number of 362 sent to the 2015 Games in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Maitaki said further adjustments are yet to be carried out on the listing and the number is expected to reduce.

“The realistic figure should fall around 300 and 400 and we’ll be putting in all effort to make sure that the figure is reduced.”

Maitaki also called on federations to submit their team lists to the NSJC this week.

Meanwhile, the federation representatives who attended yesterday were also briefed on what to expect in Samoa next year and some of them include training venues, competition venues, accommodation and most importantly, the games schedules.

Discover more from Theislandsun

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading