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Orchids played for Unity: Tsiamalili Jr

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Black Orchids team posing with their second prize in the SPO Solomon 7s

BY ROMULUS HUTA

Bougainville Rugby President Peter Tsaimalili Junior

THE president of Autonomous Region of Bougainville Rugby Football Union (ARBRFU) has described their participation in the recent South Pacific Oil (SPO) Solomon 7s competition in Honiara last week as ‘playing for unity’.

Peter Tsiamalili Jr, who led the Bougainville Black Orchids side to a second place finish in the cup play-off said, it has been a wonderful journey for them to come over to Honiara and play against their Melanesian brothers.

“For us it has been a wonderful journey, not just a journey of rugby but a journey that Bougainville Orchids happened to unite every people together in the relationship we’ve had with Solomon Islands through the code of rugby,” he said.

The Black Orchids began their Solomon 7s campaign in a loss against homeside Henderson Hammerheads in the opening day but managed to pull through into the cup final after winning their remaining matches.

Tsiamalili Jr was full of praise for his boys despite the loss in the grandfinal against the Vanuatu Barbarians where they claimed the second prize of $20,000 cash.

“It’s been a bonus for us this weekend where God had allowed us to go all the way to play in the cup final.

“For this opportunity, we give all the glory and praise back to him that he has allowed us to come this far.

“Again, for us to come and finish in second has been a wonderful, wonderful outcome against this particular team Vanuatu Barbarians, that is obviously made up of good Fijian players, experienced Fijian players.

Black Orchids team posing with their second prize in the SPO Solomon 7s

“The difference between us is, we are purely straight out of the village. We’ve been working on our rugby and we really appreciate the benchmark of what they’ve set as we look forward to 2019 when we come back to Honiara to take this opportunity again.

“Definitely, it is our first time to participate in a competition outside of our region after 15 years of developing rugby in Bougainville.

“Actually, this is a first unique journey outside our region for us. We look forward to many more in better future,” Tsiamalili Jr, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the PNG Sports Foundation, said.

The Solomon 7s is the first ever international rugby sevens competition to be organised in the country by Solomon Islands Rugby Union Federation (SIRUF).

The Black Orchids captain receiving his team’s second prize from the Speaker to Solomon Islands National Parliament Hon Ajilon Nasiu during the presentation

The Solomon 7s is the first ever international rugby sevens competition to be organised in the country by Solomon Islands Rugby Union Federation (SIRUF).

The Black Orchids’ participation was upon invitation from SIRUF President Frank Wickham.

Tsiamalili expressed his gratitude to SIRUF for the invitation stating that it’s a significant milestone for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville Rugby Football Union.

“All praise and glory goes back to God for allowing these games to be played amongst our brother regions where we are able to express ourselves through the rugby field.

“I would like to thank the rugby community in Honiara for being a wonderful host where the safety of all our players in and off the pitch are well looked after.

Black Orchids listening to speeches during presentation at the Town Ground Rugby Stadium

“Big credit goes to the organisers as well for putting up spectacular job in preparing this successful tournament,” Tsiamalili said.

Asked him what’s next, he asserts that this is the beginning of their long walk ahead.

“It is our aspiration that we will be ready as a rugby union playing nation when the time comes,” Tsiamalili Jr said.

“If Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa can do it so can we. This National Championship in Honiara adds to our resume for our bid to be recognised under World Rugby as an associate member of Oceania rugby union, with the plan to becoming full members.

“A full membership will be our objective into the future, we want to play in the Olympics and if a small nation like Fiji can be Olympic Champions in Sevens then have hope.”

A Black Orchid member is being closely watched by the Vanuatu Barbarians players
A Black Orchids player attempts to evade a tackle from the on coming Vanuatu Barbarians player in the final of the SPO 7s
A Black Orchids player tries to make a run through

Junior Kurukurus continue training

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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L-R.. Raphael Le'ai Leon Kofana, Ronaldo Cromwell and Junior Mana

By Taromane Martin

PREPARATIONS for October’s Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games in Argentina are ongoing for the Solomon Islands Under-17 junior Kurukuru futsal team.

Head Coach Stanley Puirana said the squad has already resumed their trainings and are training three days a week after last month’s one-week training camp in Australia.

Coach Puirana said last month’s one week training camp in Sydney has been very helpful with the final selection of for the squad and also helping the players adapt to playing on a standard sized futsal court.

Puirana says he expects to name the final squad for the Junior Kurukuru U-17 futsal team later this month.

The Junior Kurkurus are training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Multipurpose Hall from 3pm to 5pm.

Meanwhile the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games in Argentina will kick off from October 7-18.

HRUA league set

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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HHH SHarks forward Fredson Soaki on the charge as Realas players set up defense during their 2017 HRUA Low Price competition semi final match. ISN file

The 2018 season of HRUA league kick off tomorrow

BY ROMULUS HUTA

THE much-anticipated 2018 season of the Honiara Rugby Union Association (HRUA) league will finally kick off this weekend at the Town Ground Rugby Stadium.

This follows the draws which took place at the Solomon Islands Rugby Union Federation (SIRUF) conference room yesterday.

The draws were held during a HRUA executive meeting attended by representatives of participating clubs.

HRUA is the legal governing rugby body in Honiara and has a total of eight affiliates namely Avaiki, Matangiki, Luapel, Diesel Services, Realas, Henderson HammerHeads, Islanders and TIA Warriors.

The eight affiliates are also ones contesting the 2018 season.

Three matches have been lined up for this weekend.

Two matches will be played on Saturday while one match is set for Sunday.

Kicking off the league round Saturday 2pm is Islanders taking on TIA Warriors and followed by Avaiki versus Diesel at 4pm.

The third match is on Sunday 4pm between Henderson Hammerheads and Matangiki.

The 2018 season is one of the main priorities since the election of Derek Pongi as HRUA president in June.

Pongi, who wishes to serve as HRUA President until the remainder of this current term lapses toward the end of the year, stated straight after his election that the HRUA league competition must uphold consistency to meet the growing demands of rugby in Honiara.

“For most part of this upcoming remaining months, HRUA executive is expected to carry out competitions for affiliated clubs which is going to be interesting and exciting, and I hope this will get rugby fans in Honiara get what they have been expecting since the beginning of this year,” Pongi highlighted earlier.

The league was initially agreed to kick off earlier last month. But to the rescheduling of the Solomon 7s competition for end of last week, HRUA had to reschedule their league’s kick off date as well, which will finally commence this weekend.

Meanwhile, Avaiki is the defending champion from last year’s competition, making it twice in a row after the 2016 edition.

New archers wanted

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Solomon Islands national archery team.

Archery Solomon Islands focuses on development and future international events

BY ROMULUS HUTA

A program aimed at identifying new archers for the country will get underway in Honiara this month.

The program is organised by the Archery Solomon Islands (ASI) and will be held at the Town Ground Rugby Stadium on Saturday 11th August commencing at 1pm.

The program includes a whole afternoon of training and invites current archers and newly interested potential archers to attend.

The session will be conducted by certified individuals who are part of the coaching team from the archery federation.

“This will give the coaches time to prepare “Come & Try” Instruction Booklets and Checklists for new archers, and to repair and replace training equipment. Targets need to be maintained and another target stand and butt needs to be constructed before then,” a statement from the federation said.

The federation is also looking for interested sponsors to come forward and support them.

“Support from interested sponsors for development of archery in the Solomon Islands is encouraged.”

The training program is part of the federation’s plans to promote the code further to Solomon Islanders.

On this note, they have big plans ahead where they are putting a more spirited focus in encouraging more youths to come into the sport and help sustain its development aspects into the future.

“There are very few youth an archer participating in the sport and it is one sport where individual athletes can do very well with dedicated training and good coaching.

“Youth athletes can begin learning at around 12 years old and can compete in regional games at the age around the age of 13,” the national governing archery body said.

During the training, participants will be separated according to various classes defined by their ages.

The classes are: Cubs (13 years and under), Intermediate (15 years and under), Cadets (17 years and under), junior (20 years and under), Open, Masters (for 50 to 60 year olds) and Veteran (60 years and above).

The focus during the training session will be:

  • Recurve Double 720 round – 70 meters (2 x 320; 72 arrows) (Men and Women)
  • Recurve – 70 meters ranking round (Men and Women)
  • Match Play Recurve (Men and Women)
  • Mixed Team Recurve
  • Target Round: World Archery Double 720 at 70 meters (144 arrows)
  • Match Play Rounds – Individual competition

Being an inclusive sport, the archery federation is also giving priority opportunity to interested para-athletes.

“The inclusion of para-archers will also be a priority.

“Archery is one sport where para-athletes can be very competitive.

“There are several classes of disability and those who consider themselves as living with a disability, or families of these people, should contact the Solomon Islands Archery Association to find out how they can participate.

“The recently qualified coaches receive special support from World Archery to encourage disabled peoples to participate in archery.”

The federation added anyone interested to join them for the above training on August 11 are required to contact Archery Development Officer Andrew Lano on 7508761 or email: [email protected] for registration.

The archery federation is doing all these to ensure they have a big pool of archers to select from for the national team for upcoming various tournaments such as the Pacific Games 2019, Oceania Para OChampionship 2019 – Townsville, Arafura Games – Darwin 2019 and Oceania Archery Championships 2020 – Fiji.

High school hockey league resumes

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Action from the 2018 Samllinsan High school hockey league.

By Taromane Martin

THE 2018 Samlinsan High School hockey league has resumed matches on Tuesday at the King George sixth hockey field.

Solomon Islands Hockey Federation (SIHF) Development Officer Mr Allen Temoa confirmed yesterday saying matches will continue today.

Results for matches on Tuesday saw Vura CHS picking up easy points over St Nicholas College while Flornce Young CHS defeated Koloale 4-0.

Results from yesterday’s game saw Woodford International School defeating King George Sixth 2-1 while Don Bosco drew 2-2 with Honiara High School.

Matches for today will see King George VI taking on Honiara High followed by Burns Creek CHS taking on Don Bosco while Koloale takes on St Nicholas in the girl’s competition.

Finals play offs for the high schools hockey league according to Mr Temoa will take place after the national hockey teams return from world hockey series in Vanuatu.

The World Series qualifiers will be hosted by the Vanuatu Hockey Federation (VHF) in Port Vila at Wan Smol Bag Sports Field on the 15th to 18th of August.

Eye on world champ

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Commonwealth Bronze Medallist Jenly Wini will leave the country Monday next week for New Caledonia to prepare the world championship in November.

Wini jets off on Monday to prepare for the upcoming World Championship

BY ROMULUS HUTA

NATIONAL female weightlifting icon’s journey to the World Weightlifting Championship happening toward the end of the year begins next week when she leaves the country for abroad.

Jenly Wini has been confirmed to leave on Monday to resume training at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in New Caledonia run by experienced coach Paul Coffa.

Her timely travel to the Noumea-based performance-enhancing institute is to prepare her for the World Weightlifting Championship and the Pacific Cup.

The Pacific Cup will be held in Noumea on December.

The World Weightlifting Championship will be held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and will run from November 1 to 10.

The world championship will bring together all best lifters around the world to compete over the 10-day competing period.

Ashgabat is no strange place for Wini having competed and represented the country there at the Asian Indoor Games last year.

Being a bronze medallist at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast held in April, Wini is expected to take on familiar faces in the world championship.

“I think this is very timely where I will get to have a good preparation over three month before travelling to take on the world’s bests,” she told SunSPORTS on Wednesday.

Wini competes in the 58kg class and has a personal best of a total196kg lifts.

During the Oceania Championship held in Noumea in June, Wini won gold medal after successfully lifting 82kg in snatch and 110 kg in clean and jerk, making it a total of 192kg but four kilograms short of her personal best.

After the world championship and the Pacific Cup tournaments are over, she will switch focus to the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa where the 34-year-old is expected to defend the title she won during the 2015 edition in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Wini told SunSPORTS that she plans to retire from competing after the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan.

GP prepping boxers

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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By Taromane Martin

GUADALCANAL Province sports division is planning on staging a boxing bout later this month to help their preparations for this year’s Solomon Games.

Assistant Provincial Sports coordinator Mr Francis Loxie said boxing head coach Mr Channel Kaoni has held discussions with their executive and has agreed to host the bouts.

“We’re looking at hosting the boxing bouts at either the Don Bosco Technical Institute or at GPPOL 2,” Mr Loxie told SunSPORTS yesterday.

“According to Mr Kaoni there are 15 fighters confirmed for the proposed fights which will likely be held at the end of this month or early next month.

“The bouts are purposely to help raise funds for Guadalcanal province’s athletes and officials for the Renbel Solomon Games and also to help prepare our boxers for the national games this November,” he said.

Meanwhile the 2018 Solomon Games in Rennell and Bellona province is set to take place on November 20th -30th.

According to a statement from the local organising committee they are expecting more than 2000 athletes and officials to grace their shores for the 7th Solomon Games.

Theme for this year’s Solomon Games is ‘Live the Impossible Dream’.

U-19 arrives in Tahiti

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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The national U-19s pose for a group photo upon their arrival in Tahiti. Photo supplied.

‎By Taromane Martin

THE country’s national U-19 soccer team have arrived and are settling down in Tahiti after leaving the country on Tuesday.

The national U-19 squad is in Tahiti to compete at the 2018 Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) U-19 championship which kicks off this Saturday.

Head Coach Batram Suri said the team is in good spirit and is settling in as they look to create history for the country.

“The team is very confident with all the players by considering their individual techniques and tactics where we have been working on them for the past months,” Coach Suri said prior to their departure on Tuesday.

“We have a team of very young and energetic players who are prepared to give all they have to finish top of the group and into the semi-finals.

“Our initial target will be the semi-finals. From there on then we can work out going beyond that into the finals to achieve our world cup qualification goal,” he adds.

Solomon Islands is pooled in Group B with Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Solomon Islands will play New Caledonia in their first match this Sunday followed by Fiji Thursday next week and then Vanuatu in their final group match on August 12 at the Stade Fautaua.

The top two teams from Oceania will qualify for a sport in the Youth World Cup which will be staged in Poland come 2019.

TSL starts Sunday

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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RECAP.. Henderson Eels FC Tuti Zama tries to go pass a Real Kakamora FC player during round one. Both teams will meet again this second round as the race for the top two TSL spots continues this weekend. Photo ISN File.

By Taromane Martin

Draws for TSL

THE Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) has confirmed that the much anticipated new season for the Telekom Soccer league will kick off this weekend at the Lawson Tama stadium.

The new TSL season was supposed to kick off on July 21 but saw SIFF and the TSL executive board forced to cancel the kick off date due to late registrations from the clubs.

But a statement from SIFF media officer Mr Simon Abana on Wednesday confirmed that official draws for the competition have been at the SIFF Panatina Academy.

Mr Abana said as of yesterday all eight participating clubs have confirmed their participation for the new TSL season.

“The most anticipated Telekom S-League 2018/2019 season is scheduled to start on Sunday August 5th, 2018,” the statement said.

“This is after the TSL board and Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) have received seven participating club’s confirmation of commitment towards the league.

“An official draw was done today at the SIFF academy conference room which was conducted by all TSL club managers.

“Franchise clubs committed to commence the TSL 2018/2019 season are Solomon Warriors, Marist FC, Malaita Kingz, Henderson Eels, KOSSA, Western United, Real Kakamora and FC Guadalcanal,” it adds.

Meanwhile, the first match for this Sunday according to the yesterday’s draws will see defending champions Solomon Warriors FC taking on Marist FC at 2pm followed by KOSSA FC taking on Real Kakamora FC at 4pm.

The Kaohsiung experience

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Another visit to two statue like creations at Pier 2 Art center.

BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

A challenging, fun and exciting year of teaching Mandarin at Solomon Islands National University (SINU) has just ended and it was time for a break.

Ms Kuei Mi Li prior to taking time off in June this year had earlier spoke of how she plans to visit some of her students when she gets to Taiwan to see how they’re doing with their Mandarin and how life in Taiwan is treating them.

She spent her break in her hometown, Kaohsiung, not only the third populous city in Taiwan but also home to the largest port in the country, also a sister port of Honiara since 2017.

Upon meeting with some of her former Solomon Islands students, now studying in Taipei and Kaohsiung, Ms Li was able to spend some time with three of them.

She caught up with Joseph Lefotoo, Robinson Minevaleke and Simon Tewa Tomasusu who are currently doing their Post Baccalaureate in Medicine at I-Shou University in Kaohsiung.

Ms Li took them to one her favourite neighbourhoods in Kaohsiung, the Pier 2 Art Center, which she describes as “a vibrant recreational zone transformed from clusters of abandoned warehouses”.

As they strolled around the Art Center, she got to hear of what they think of Taiwan, their impression of Kaohsiung, what they liked most during their stay and whether studying Mandarin at SINU prior to travelling to study in Taiwan helped them when they first arrived in Taiwan.

“So far the three are all satisfied with their study in Kaohsiung. They enjoy their life in Taiwan”, she said.

Ms Li went on to say that Joseph sees Taiwan as a country with people who always want to strive for the best.

“They are very innovative and want to lead in areas of science, medicine, and other technologies. It is a country that always does research in science, medicine and even sociology too”, he said.

Kaohsiung MRT station.

That’s not all what Joseph thinks of Taiwan, emphasizing that it is also a safe country to live in with the most reliable police force in the world.

“It has some of the best universities in the world. It even has some of the best hospitals in the world. Hospitals which are fully equipped”, he adds.

Joseph also thinks Taiwanese people are the most loving people who are kind and uphold moral values.

“They are always very studious, considerate and very smart. They are always proud of what they are doing specially to present their country to the rest of the world. They want to contribute to the welfare of humanity around the globe”

For Robinson Minevaleke, Taiwan has a rich and diverse culture, a relative low cost of living, amazingly cheap transportation system, advanced technologies and quality and affordable education in the Asian region.

Like Lefotoo, he sees people from Taiwan as one of the friendliest people you can come across in life.

Minevaleke stressed that although it might be a bit difficult to understand them at first due to the cultural and language barriers once you get to know them you’ll figure out that they are warm and hospitable and view interpersonal relationships above money and interest.

“They will always try their best to show you that they are different from other Asians based on their Chinese’s heritage. Taiwan and its people are the true gems of Asia”, he said.

The next segment of their conversation was over some bubble milk tea by the port with them telling Ms Li their impression of Kaohsiung.

She wanted to know if they liked her city as much as she did and there, they told her.

Another visit to two statue like creations at Pier 2 Art center.

They statement of how friendly people are cannot be better expressed as the compliment was again mentioned.

Besides that, Lefotoo take on Kaohsiung rests on the picture of a busy city, less populated compared to Taipei with very efficient public transportation, an organized city council and very clean.

Minevaleke’s impression of Kaohsiung is rather more relaxed. He refers to it as his “home away from home”.

In this sense, to him it is a place where there is always something to see and enjoy which he tops off with “it is not so fast and crowded like other big cities which I like”.

“Here, you tend to mingle with local farmers and the place has a lot of traditional attractions and tasty local foods. I also prefer the Kaohsiung tropic climate”, said Minevaleke.

As for Tomasusu, Kaohsiung is a beautiful town with the spot light in recreational arts areas.

He said while transportation is easy and convenient by bus, train or taxi, getting from one place to another by bus or train is cheaper.

Tomasusu added that the city has beautiful night markets and a variety of delicious foods and drinks.

Ms Li went on to ask about what they liked most during their stay in Taiwan which at this time was nearly the end of their first year of studies.

Taiyo and Zongzi (rice dumpling for dragon boat festival), gift from Teacher

She explained that Lefotoo learned a lot from what he saw around Kaohsiung, ranging from how people behaved, how organized the city is, public transport, how the police force functions and the scope of infrastructure that shapes up the country that has Wi-Fi available almost everywhere from shopping malls, transporting avenues to food courts.

Minevaleke had the most to say about this.

“I do like and admire a hell lot of things here”, he said.

The list started off with how amazed he is by the society social cohesion based on Taiwan’s cultural heritage.

“The people are friendly and respectful and the societal inclusion of elderly, disabled and minority groups is worth mentioning here as it is what is missing in many societies these days”, said Minevaleke.

Taiwan’s efficient and cheap transportation system for him is what makes moving around the island “easy”.

Tomasusu liked visiting new places and obviously favours Taiwan food and drinks, stating that this what he liked the most. He put out Chen zhu nai cha, otherwise known as pearl milk tea in Taiwan as an example.

Visiting the Kaohsiung port.

Time passed and they were now asked if they found their SINU Mandarin class helpful when they arrived in Taiwan.

All three of them replied positively, Lefotoo pointed out that it was very helpful but wished he had studied Mandarin for a year before coming to Taiwan.

Minevaleke also voiced that it helped him a lot and is grateful that he attended the class.

Tomasusu said the class helped him a lot during his first few weeks in Taiwan.

By now, enjoying Pier 2 Art Center, having tasted Taiwan treats and walking around site seeing were soon to be memories as the day’s activity slowly came to an end.

Ms Li mentioned that they also had to return to the university to prepare for their exams.

But before departing, she said Tomasusu shared a story she refers to as a typical scenario for most foreigners in Taiwan that not only shows how friendly the people in Taiwan are but the importance of learning Mandarin if you want to live and study in Taiwan.

“I got lost in town, a stranger spotted me on the street and helped me. The conversation was totally not understandable but only by sign language. Xie Xie (thank you) for the stranger friend, finally he dropped me in a totally wrong place. But yeah, I manage to reach home hours later safely”, said Tomasusu.

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