Commonwealth Games

Weightlifters smash records at Pacific Mini Games

Among the outstanding stars at the Vanuatu Games is 17-year-old Samoan weightlifter Fegaiga Stowers, who set a new Commonwealth record in the women's 90kg class by lifting 108kg in the snatch, 131kg in the clean-and-jerk for a 239 kg total.

Papua New Guinea's Stephen Kari secured all three gold medals in the men's 93kg category by lifting 155kg in the snatch and 195kg in the clean-and-jerk.

International weightlifting referee Lilly Coffa, a trainer at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in New Caledonia, says the athletes are ready for the Commonwealth Games.

UFC champ set for Comm Games

Last week Whittaker, who was already the interim middleweight champion, was given the overall title after mixed martial arts legend Georges St-Pierre vacated due to health reasons.

The New Zealand-born Australian, Australasia's first UFC champion, has been scheduled to headline UFC 221 against American Luke Rockhold in Perth in February, which comes just under two months before April's Commonwealth Games.

Whittaker has already qualified for the 97kg wrestling division at the Games following his win at the Australian wrestling trials last month.

Pacific businesses invited to leverage off Commonwealth Games

The idea amongst others was raised at the Trade 2018 GC2018 briefing held by representatives from the Office of the Commonwealth Games, Queensland Government, Lisa Ward and Yasmahne Hanel for invited guests at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland last week.

Qualifying spots on offer at Oceania 7s Champs

A record eight women's teams are competing this year and for hosts Fiji the goal is straight forward - trying to regain the title they won two years ago.

The Fijiana play Samoa and Tonga in their first two pool matches but captain Ana Maria Rociqa said they already have an eye on their final match of the day against the defending women's champions.

"We have Australia in our pool game. We played against them at Central Coast (two weeks ago) in the quarter finals and we lost," she said.

Ticket schedule for Commonwealth Games released

The schedule of sporting events has been released and for the next month people are being encouraged to consider which events they would like to attend.

Samoa Weightlifting says medal deserves reward

The Samoa government is facing pressure to provide a monetary reward for Ele Opeloge, who was awarded the silver medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after two competitors were disqualified for drugs.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said the government's policy was to only offer monetary awards for gold medal winners.

Ele and Niusila Opeloge and Faavae Faauliuli all won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi seven years ago.

The President of the Samoa Weightlifting Federation, Tuaopepe Asiata Jerry Wallwork, was their coach.

Samoa rules out Comm Games netball hopes

Samoa haven't played an international since the 2015 World Cup, where they finished in 10th place.

RNZ reports new head coach Frances Solia said their only fixtures this year will be at the Pacific Mini Games in Vanuatu, in December, however those won't be classed as full test matches, or have rankings points attached.

"It will be a good test for all of us," she said.

"It's not a qualifying, so we don't get any points, but what it does do is it allows us to kind of see who can play at an international level and who's able to take the pressure.

Weightlifters challenged to perform

This will only become a reality as long as they train and attend competitions to meet the minimum qualification standards.

That includes top athletes and 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Dika Toua and Steven Kari who missed out on the recent Rio Olympics.

This is the word from Papua New Guinea Weightlifting President Sir John Dawaninicura in an interview with Loop PNG news yesterday (Saturday) in Lae.

Rowing thrown Commonwealth Games lifeline

Under a new proposal adopted by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at its General Assembly here yesterday, host cities must in future include 16 core sports as part of the programme and then can choose as many as they want from a list of optional sports and disciplines as long as it does not exceed a further 500 athletes.

Rowing had been on the previous list of optional sports but has now been dropped, leading to Annamarie Phelps, the chairman of British Rowing, to launch a campaign to save it.