Pacific Games 2019

The announcement was made by the Games Organising Committee Chairman, Minister Loau Solamalemalo Keneti Sio with Farid Mohammed Chief Executive Officer of Digicel Samoa.

“We are honoured to have Digicel Samoa on board as the official sponsor for next year’s games.”

“Digicel’s sponsorship will provide significant support in our efforts to host a remarkable and memorable Pacific Games event.”

The official sponsorship package is valued at $3 Million Tala.

Hotels will be used to accommodate more than 1000 technical officials, delegates, Commonwealth weightlifting and Boxing athletes.

The announcement follows months of preparation to house athletes and team officials in hotels.

A key milestone towards achieving this goal was the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing event between Government and Accommodation providers in Upolu and Savai’I, held last month.

To date four hotels in Salelologa and 30 hotels in Upolu have signed up providing approximately 1,300 beds in total.

Pacific Games Council CEO Andrew Minogue spent three days in Apia last week meeting with Games staff and checking on the facilities that will play host to more than 4000 athletes and officials in July across 26 sports.

Mr Minogue was pleased with the overall progress being made eight and a half months out from the event but said plans for the athletes to stay in hotels during the two-week event are still to be finalised.

"There's a lot of work that goes into making that happen and that's still ongoing," he said.

The chief executive of Samoa's Pacific Games Office, Falefata Hele-Ei Matatia, said a new multi-sport gymnasium was being built from scratch to host the badminton and netball competitions.

"It's a multi-purpose gym so there'll be other sports in the future that will use it but for the Pacific Games it will focus on those two sports," Falefata said.

"The completion date will be around May next year."

The other ceremony was for the beginning of the refurbishment of Apia Park and the Samoa Aquatic Centre, Falefata said.

Matatia declared the Organising Committee's vision when providing a progress report at the Pacific Games Council (PGC) General Assembly here.

It was the first chance for Pacific Games Associations (PGA) to receive a full run down of Samoa 2019's plans and vision for the event.

Samoa were awarded the 2019 Pacific Games in December as a replacement for Tonga.

It followed Tonga's Government withdrawing from hosting due to financial concerns.

Samoa was awarded the games in September last year after Tonga pulled out, saying it could not afford to host them.

The Pacific Games Council held hold its Annual General Meeting in Apia this weekend, where members received an update on how Samoa is progressing.

Chief Executive of the Pacific Games Office, Falefata Hele Matatia, says the country is ecstatic to be hosting the Games and has met every deadline required of them.

The Pacific Games Council announced yesterday afternoon that Samoa was the only bid that met all the criteria.

Tuilaepa says Samoa already has the facilities which were modernized as late as 2015.

He adds there are funds for new additions that may be required.

“In any case the arrangements we have made for this meeting (Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit) particularly all the arrangements of welcoming of delegates etc are all part and parcel of our preparations of the Pacific Games,” Tuilaepa said.

The Council confirmed on Monday it would formally terminate the host agreement with Tonga, after the deadline passed for the government to recommit its support.

It has also begun legal proceedings against the government, following its decision to unilaterally withdraw from hosting the event.

The same six countries and territories have held every edition of the Games, since they started in 1963.

Tonga were awarded hosting rights in 2012 but last month the Prime Minister, 'Akilisi Pohiva, pulled the government's support, initially citing financial reasons but then saying his government had other priorities.

The President of the Fiji Olympic Committee, Joe Rodan Senior, said the FANSAOC Board discussed a possible bid before deciding against it.

"For two years (until the Games begin) it's too short a time for us to really prepare our organising committee or organising officials to host the Games," he said.

Council President Vidhya Lakhan and CEO Andrew Minogue met with the Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva, and two of his ministers on Tuesday, in a last ditch attempt to try and change their minds.

But the Prime Minister said the cabinet's decision was final and they government wished to focus its resources on other more important areas of economic development.

Andrew Minogue said the Games Council met with a lawyer in Nuku'alofa this week and if there was no change in stance from the government by the end of June, they will begin proceedings to seek damages through the court.