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Signs of CRB in Ngella

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle’s (CRB’s).

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

SIGNS of infestation of Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (CRB) are increasing around Ngella as the Agriculture Division in Central Islands Province (CIP) is yet to confirm new reported sites.

Currently affecting palm trees along Ngella’s Central, South and N/East coasts, indicators of CRB are now visible in North Ngella (Boromole) and along the Sandfly Passage at Leitongo. This is causing anxiety in the community and locals are calling on the Ministry of Agriculture (MAL) to help them address the situation.

From the Agriculture Division at Tulaghi, it is suspected that the pest must have already spread through the whole constituency.

According to MAL’s Director of Quarantine Bio-security Mr Francis Tsatsia, their Officers are yet to return to Ngella for their task in clearing CRB’s. They are waiting for the national government to pass the Budget first.

Recently Bob Macfarlane, Coordinator of Government and Palm Industries CRB Task Force, says continuous attack by Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle’s (CRB) will have an impact on the oil palm and coconut productions in Solomon Islands.

He confirmed that hundreds of coconut and palm oil trees in the country are already destroyed by the CRB’s.

“From reports received, the beetle has already spread along the north coast of Guadalcanal and has invaded north Malaita, Savo and Ngella. Currently the worst effects can be seen around Honiara but if the beetle gets to village coconut plantations then the impact on copra production will be huge reported,” said Mr Macfarlane.

Larvae and adults of CRB’s were also recently reported to be found on an Island at Russell. This has also increased the anxiety amongst locals who rely on the coconut. This includes fear for betel-nut and Sago-palm trees as well.

In a recent press statement, Macfarlane has reminded people to be aware of the serious nature of the beetle problem and the very high importance of destroying the breeding sites as it is the only tool at the moment for reducing their population.

Failure to do this will mean CRB’s population will increase and more palm trees will be destroyed.

OSEP workshop underway in Honiara

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Lawn Tennis officials and coaches discussing during one of the sessions.

BY ROMULUS HUTA

A weeklong series of workshops in sports organization management and coaching are being conducted in Honiara this week for national federation administrators and coaches.

The workshops are being led by officials from the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) Oceania Sport Education Program (OSEP) in collaboration with officials from the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI).

The OSEP officials include Pacific Islanders accredited as Oceania Regional Master Educators, Master Educators and Educators.

OSEP is an educational program of the Oceania National Olympic Committee (ONOC) that purposely aims to provide quality sport education trainings for its affiliated national Olympic committees and its national federations to inspire more sporting participation in communities and consistently produce champions at international levels.

The workshops, which are being held at the Solomon Islands Rugby Union Federation (SIRUF) conference room at the Town Ground Rugby Stadium and NOCSI Conference room, began on Monday and will conclude on Saturday.

More than 40 participants representing more than 10 sporting federations attended the first two workshops.   It is expected to double with the start of the Strength and Conditioning Coach and Management in Sporting Organisation (MiSO) courses targeted national coaches and NOCSI and NF Executive Committee and board members.

The workshops this week are being marked as a new journey for all the national sporting federations in Solomon Islands where participants are taken to a whole new level of experience in learning about development of sports at the community level and so as learn about effective ways of managing their sporting organisations.

According to an interview with SunSPORTS, the OSEP Coordinator, Sainimili Saukuru said the series of workshops the OSEP team had been delivering since last month was aimed at getting Solomon Islands prepared well ahead of the hosting of the Pacific Games in Honiara in 2023 and other future sporting events.

“The Oceania Sport Education program (OSEP) courses for administrators, team managers and coaches are to prepare toward the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2019 Pacific Games, 2020 Olympic Games and the 2023 Pacific Games.

“The OSEP courses train locals involved in running sporting organisations to support the way sport events are conducted and how teams are managed. And also sporting organisations’ leaderships are trained on how they run their national federations, put in place strategic plans to prepare their federations for the 2023 Pacific Games.

“ONOC will work closely with NOCSI and its national federations over the next five years to build the skills and competencies of sport federations coaches and administrators to comply with the principles of good governance in sport,” Saukuru highlighted.

During the course of the week NOCSI Training and Development Commission members Shalom Akao and Morris Mai’taki will be assessed as OSEP Educator and Master Educator. The duo just returned from Fiji as part of the OSEP trainers course to build up the OSEP training team in Solomon islands. This team are targeted to run OSEP courses locally.

Meanwhile, the course facilitators for this week’s workshops include OSEP Regional Master Educators such as Lemeki Savua, Tihrani Uluinakauvadra, Geoffrey Gisane Gideon, Kinivanagi Karo, Sainimili Saukuru and Mentor Talemo Waqa.   Also joining the team are OSEP Strength and Conditioning Educators Hannah Ilave and Thereseanne Daimol.

Lawn Tennis officials and coaches discussing during one of the sessions.
Victor Waiia discusses a point with one of the participants.
Participants undergoing intensive discussions
Participants listening to a presenter during Monday’s session.
Junior Bainivalu of the boxing federation leading a group activity for his group
A group activity for participants during yesterday’s session

TSL champs continues this weekend

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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By Taromane Martin

THE second leg matches of the 2018 Telekom S-League championship series will continue this weekend at the Lawson Tama Stadium.

The first match for this Saturday will see Malaita Kingz FC taking on Henderson Eels FC at 2pm followed by the 4pm class between Western United FC and KOSSA FC.

With the semi-finals for the competition set for Wednesday next week, Eels will be eager to bounce back following their 4-0 loss to a young M/Kingz side last Sunday.

Matches for the competition continues this Sunday as FC Guadalcanal takes on Marist FC at 2pm while Solomon Warriors FC takes on Real Kakamora FC at 4pm.

Despite their 2-0 loss to Marist FC last Saturday, FC Guale Head Coach Martin Hiti was pleased with his boys’ performance saying it was by far their best performance so far.

“Three weeks is not enough but I’m pleased we’ve managed to work and identified a game plan for us today,” Coach Hiti told SunSPORT after their loss on Saturday.

“This is a new team for FC Guadalcanal. Our performance was good in terms of teamwork and our combination but it is our finishing which needs improvement.

“This is one of the beautiful games I’ve seen from our team so far. I mean Marist is a good side that has kept on training after the TSL season for the Oceania Champions League.

“We went for the break and managed to rebuild in three weeks and I think this is a good starter for the boys.

“It was very challenging but the boys played together as a team today. We’ll work on the areas we failed today and hope the boys can get us the result next week,” Hiti said.

Meanwhile, semi-finals for the TSL are set for Wednesday and Thursday next week.

Format for the semi-final will see the winner of Solomon Warriors FC and Real Kakamora FC taking on the winner of KOSSA FC and Western United FC while the other semi-final will be between the winner of Henderson Eels FC and Malaita Kingz FC match, and the winner of Marist FC and FC Guadalcanal match this Sunday.

Grand finals for the competition will take place Sunday next week.

HFA to announce league plans

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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HFA President Baddley Alaha

By Taromane Martin

THE Honiara Football Association (HFA) will announce their development plans for this year’s HFA Soccer league.

Association President Mr Baddley Alaha confirmed they will make the announcements in a media press conference this afternoon at the Lawson Tama VIP Lounge.

“HFA invites all of you to come to our media conference at Lawson Tama VIP Lounge tomorrow at

12pm,” he said.

“The purpose of the conference is to announce our plans and the HFA League for 2018.

HFA is also expected to announce the dates for the presentation and awards for last year’s league winners and the new format for this year’s soccer leagues.

“The presentation and awards for the 2017 HFA League and the start of 2018 HFA League proper will soon be announced,” the President said.

“Please just be patient with us as we are trying to address issues one at a time. The HFA league will soon adopt a new structure.

“The new structure will see only two divisions being played out by participating clubs.

“I’m working with the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) Technical Director on how to administer the HFA new league structure.

“Under this new structure, we will have two divisions only. The Premier Division will have 18 teams and Division 1 also 18 teams.

“The detail of the new format will be announced soon,” Alaha said.

Under-19 training squad named

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Europe-based Marcus Chan is one of the players drafted into the national under-19 training squad.

BY ROMULUS HUTA

THE Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) technical department has named a 44-man training squad for the national under-19.

The squad was released yesterday.

In the 44-man squad, most of players were selected from the Youth Solomon Cup tournament held in January with the exception of four players namely Marist defender John Aeta, Spain-based Marcus Chan, Simon Wolfgang (Western United) and Steward Saru of Waimapuru.

Aeta is the former national under-17 captain and also a current member of the national senior side.

Chan is currently a member of the CF Cracks Academy in Valencia, Spain.

The SIFF technical department said trials will begin on March 19, which is Monday next week at 9am.

“The SIFF Technical Director and the Technical Department would like to inform all Provincial Football Associations (PFA) presidents and coaches that we are calling on all selected players from each PFAs to attend the national under-19 trials,” a statement from SIFF said.

Players named in the training squad are expected arrive in Honiara by this Sunday.

SIFF is calling on PFAs to send their players based in the provinces to Honiara for the trials.

The statement said PFAs will be responsible for meeting the transport costs of players based in the provinces – to and from Honiara.

SIFF also calls on the training squad members to bring own training gears which include boots (2 pairs), running shoes, extra socks and shin pads.

“All players must be reminded that the trial period starts as soon as the training camp starts –

19th March 2018.

“Training and trials goes for only one week – 19th March 2018 to 25th March 2018.

“All players will be observed during the one week training/trial period.

“Players must be in their best behaviour and must perform throughout the training/trial period.

“Any player(s) who does not meet the requirements during the training and trial period will not be selected.

“Players please note that the coaches and technical team can kick players out on the spot or even 2-

3 days after the training and trial period has started.

“Players who chew beetle-nut or found smoking will be kicked out immediately,” the statement said.

The national under-19 team will participate in this year’s Oceania Under-19 world cup qualifiers.

The qualifiers will take place in Tahiti from August 5 to 18.

The top winners from the qualifiers will progress to the 2019 FIFA Under-20 World Cup.

The dates for the Under-20 world cup is not finalised yet by the world governing football body and so as the host country.

Two countries namely Poland and India have submitted formal bids to host the tournament.

FIFA is expected to announce the successful host after the FIFA Council meeting this Friday (Saturday Solomon Islands Time) in Bogotá, Colombia.

 

The National under-19 training squad

Goalkeepers:

Darwin AOMATANGI (RenBell), Junior GATU (Guadalcanal) Junior John MATA (Honiara)

Defenders:

Henfred (Malaita), Phillip POLANCOS (Makira), Richard KERA (Western), Stanford CLEMENT (Honiara), Collin LOKATA (Malaita), Raymond DAUABU (Malaita), Absolom WAWANE (Malaita), Junior AENGARI (Honiara), Sebastian AKORIU (Guadalcanal), Casper MAMAE (RenBell), Stanley RYNIKER (Honiara), Anthony RASAU (Western) and John         AETA (Marist FC)

Midfielders:

William KOMASI (Malaita), Nashville HITE (Western), Clinton OTOI (Honiara), Hubert AU (Honiara), David KOESI (Guadalcanal), Simon WOLFGANG (Western Utd), Don KEANA (Honiara), Lino HOU (Guadalcanal), Alfred KAFU (Malaita), Mathew    FAGONO (Malaita), Junior BAKO                  (Honiara), Henry RAMO (Malaita), Colton LUI (RenBell), Frank KABUI (Malaita), Martin DEPORES (Guadalcanal), Clayton MENAPA (Honiara), Milton MEKE (Central), Ian TUTU (Honiara), Steward SARU (Waimapuru), Marcus CHAN (Spain), Alfred Jr TAGINI (Makira)

Forwards:

Charles MANI (Malaita), Ali MEKAWIR (Honiara), Densley GESENI (Guadalcanal), Steve MANE (RenBell), Steve SIWA (Makira), Marlon NONONE (Real Kakamora) and Junior DAVID (Western).

Europe-based Marcus Chan is one of the players drafted into the national under-19 training squad.

Youth coaches to be named this week

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Batram Suri is one of the candidates in the running for the under-19 head coaching role

BY ROMULUS HUTA

Batram Suri is one of the candidates in the running for the under-19 head coaching role

THE coaches for the national under-19 and the under-16 teams will be decided by the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) this week.

A meeting that is proposed to take place either today or tomorrow will decide the appointment of candidates for the head coaching roles for the under-19 and the under-16, the SIFF technical department confirms yesterday.

The meeting is expected to be convened by the SIFF technical director Felipe Vega-Arango Alonso for SIFF officials and representatives from the football coaches association.

Several candidates are in the running for the coaching roles for both under-19 and the under-16 squads.

For the national under-16 side, the current senior assistant coach and former national rep Stanley Waita is one of the candidates who is in the running for the head coaching role.

Regarding the under-19, Batram Suri and others are in the running for the head coaching role.

The naming of the coaches is part of preparations toward this year’s respective Oceania championships for both the under-19 and the under-16.

The Oceania Under-19 world cup qualifiers will be held in Tahiti in August while the Oceania Under-16 world cup qualifiers will be held in Honiara in September.

The top two winners from each of the qualifiers will progress to the 2019 FIFA Under-20 and the FIFA Under-17 World Cups respectively.

The host nations of both world cups are yet to be determined by the world governing football body.

Two countries namely Poland and India have submitted formal bids to host the under-20 world cup while three countries namely Rwanda, Kenya and Singapore are in the running to host the under-17 world cup.

FIFA is expected to announce the successful hosts for both tournaments after the FIFA Council meeting this Friday (Saturday Solomon Islands Time) in Bogotá, Colombia.

 

WITH PIX OF Batram Suri

Tough stance

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Henry Fa'arodo Junior of the SIFF Technical Department

BY ROMULUS HUTA

Henry Fa’arodo Junior of the SIFF Technical Department

THE Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) technical department will be taking tough stance on members of the national under-16 and the under-19 training squads concerning the habits of betelnut chewing and cigarette smoking.

According to a statement released by the SIFF technical department yesterday, Development Officer Henry Fa’arodo Junior expressed that any player who is caught chewing betelnut and smoking will be kicked out immediately.

The call comes as SIFF calls in training and trials for members of the national under-19 training squad which was named yesterday.

Fa’arodo Junior, who was a former national rep himself having risen through the ranks from the under-17 up to the senior level, explained that being a national representative comes with a lot of responsibility.

“Therefore, we will not tolerate and entertain those members of the under-16 and the under-19 training squads who continue to engage in chewing betel nut and smoking.

“The SIFF technical department wants to make this as a standard for national teams across all ranks.

“Players supposed to be upholding good sporting values such as refrainining from smoking and chewing betelnut which could only reduce their playing conditions (or fitness),” Fa’arodo Junior said.

Meanwhile, most of the players in the 44-man national under-19 training squad named yesterday was selected during the Youth Solomon Cup in January with only four exceptions which includes Marist defender and Europe-based Marcus Chan.

The national under-16 training squad was already named in January.

The national under-16 and the under-19 teams are training toward the upcoming youth oceania championships to be held this year.

The Oceania Under-19 championship will be held in Tahiti in August while the Oceania Under-16 Championship will be played in Honiara in September.

Fa’arodo Junior said the under-19 training squad will commence preparation with trials starting Monday next week at SIFF Academy.

Unlawful payment

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Hells point

Former senior government officer gives perspective on Hell’s Point $50 million court of appeal award

By Alfred Sasako

A former senior public servant has given perspective on the $50 million pay-out being demanded for the Hell’s Point waste land in east Honiara, saying there is no shred of evidence in law to support the payment.

“Based on the 1977 Land and Titles Act, businessman Patrick Wong and Levers Solomon Ltd are not entitled to receive a single cent for Hell’s Point. It is not their land,” Alfred Aihunu, who once worked in the Office of the Prime Minister, told Island Sun over the weekend.

“All alienated land were returned to landowners based on the traditional blood system. The Court of Appeal was too rushed in making the award, which in my view is inconsistent with the spirit of the 1977 Land and Titles Act.

“In my view, the CoA erred in its judgement because it did not understand the background to the land tenure system, which prompted the British Government to enact the 1977 Land and Titles Act to address what is happening today,” Mr Aihunu said.

“That Act reflects the fact that customary land and alienated land are one and the same when it comes to ownership. Ownership is based the blood system,” he said.

Aihunu said Solomon Islands was to have had its independence a year early but because the land tenure system was a major issue at the time, independence was delayed by a year to July 7, 1978.

“It was a report by Sir David Kausimae (1975-76) which brought the issue rather poignantly. The report pointed out that while the British Government talked about post-independence development Solomon Islands no longer has land for this development because all the prime land which were largely alienated land were in the hands of foreigners.

“The Government under Sir Peter Kenilorea took up the concern with the British Government, which promptly enacted the 1977 Land and Titles Act based on the British ownership of land which is based on the blood system,” Aihunu said.

He said when the 1977 Land and Titles Act was enacted, all alienated land were automatically returned to the traditional landowners.

“This is why land is not saleable in Solomon Islands unless you are an indigenous Solomon Islander. But even then, land sale transaction is only allowed between two indigenous Solomon Islanders,” he said.

“To give away $50 million for people who never owned Hell’s Point in the first place makes no sense. No, the government must never pay the $50 million. It is not supported by law.”

[Tomorrow (Friday) Island Sun will publish the Management Agreement which shows businessman Patrick Wong was never an investor. He was merely an employee of CEMA according to the Agreement he signed on February 27, 2003]

Firisua clocks season’s best in Victoria Milers’ event

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Sharon Firisua competing in the 1500m of the Victoria Open and Para Championship.

BY ROMULUS HUTA

Sharon Firisua competing in the 1500m of the Victoria Open and Para Championship.

NATIONAL distance female rep to the Commonwealth Games next month has a clocked season’s best time in last week’s Victoria Milers competition in Australia.

Running in the women’s 1500m open, Firisua clocked 5:01.06s to give her a season’s best achievement.

Firisua is currently training with Glenhuntly Athletics Club in Melbourne along with fellow male country long distance rep Patrick Kam.

The arrangement to have Firisua and Kam train in Australia comes under an International Olympic Committee (IOC) funded scholarship.

The scholarship is to enable the country’s top athletes train at performance-enhancing facilities overseas to prepare them for upcoming global sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games next month and the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Kam also participated in the Victoria Milers in the 1500m event and completed the race with a time of 4:21.37s.

A week before the Milers’ competition, both Firisua and Kam participated in the Victorian Open and Para Championship.

Though they could not progress beyond the preliminary heats, Kam clocked 4:22.18s while Firisua finished the race with a time of 5:03.09s.

In another separate event that was held toward the end of February, the duo took part in the Warburton Fun Run and claimed the second spots in both the women’s and men’s categories.

Racing along a 5 kilometer course, Kam was placed second in the men’s and stopped the clock with a time of 8.09s behind Sam Toll (17.43s). Firisua finished the race clocking 20.42s behind Vanessa Wilson who crossed the finish line first with a time of 20.14s.

Firisua said the good results produced over the past two weeks during their training camp in Melbourne are expected to help boost them for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast next month.

“Though we don’t have much more left but I think so far so good,” Firisua said.

Firisua and Kam are two of the four athletes that will represent Solomon Islands in athletics next month in Gold Coast.

The other two are sprinters Kevin Pio and Samantha Rofo.

The Gold Coast Games will run from April 4 to 15.

Second round assessment April

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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MHA to check on Renbel SG preparations

By Taromane Martin

THE Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will carry out their second round assessment of Renbel Province’s preparation to host this year’s Solomon Games.

Permanent Secretary, Mr George Palua said the games local organizing committee wants to host 12 or 14 sports during the games but will depend on the assessments that will be carried out next month.

“At the moment I do not have any new information as such, but I have been informed a week or so ago that NOCSI is sending a technical Team to assess the sports facilities being built or existing in RenBell Province for hosting of the Solomon Games later on this year, 2018,” Mr Palua said.

“They should be able to advise on what kinds of sports can be hosted given the availability of the venues even though the Province has indicated their desire to host 12 or 14 sports during the Solomon Games.

Palua said the Provincial Executive is now required to appoint a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) who will be assisted by the Solomon Games Council and the Province to work in close consultation with MHA to organize the games later on this year.

The PS said their ministry is still determined to support the province to host the Solomon Games but wants the provincial government to first settle their current political issue.

“The Province as we know is undergoing some political issues that needs immediate settlement before they can continue with the construction of new or improvement of existing facilities,” Palua said.

“MHA is still determined to assist the Province in providing the venues needed for the Games through budget support

“A second round of assessment by the Ministry will be sometimes in April to get progress report and assessment of the work done and the utilization of the funds provided to the Province, they will be accompanied by officers from Finance this time round,” he said.

Meanwhile, Renbel Province Premier Collin Singamoana provincial government is expected to face a motion of no confidence Tuesday next week.

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