Article – RNZ
The Pacific Islands contingent at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have added two more medals to their tally.Christina Persico RNZ Pacific Senior bulletin editor
The Pacific Islands contingent at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have added two more medals to their tally.
Samoa has a silver and Nauru a bronze in the men’s 71 kilogram weightlifting competition.
Samoa’s John Lautafi Tafi lifted 142 kg in the snatch, and smashed the Games record of 172kg in the clean-and jerk to finish second.
Nauru’s Ezekial Moses lifted 140kg in the snatch, and 170kg in the clean and jerk, for third place.
The gold went to Nigeria’s Edidiong Joseph Umoafia with a Games record total of 319 kg.
In other weightlifting results, Solomon Islands’ Jenly Tegu Wini came fifth in the women’s 53kg, while Papua New Guinea’s Loa Dika Toua did not finish.
Samoa’s Anoni Faumui was sixth, and Nauru’s Margaret Bless Harris 10th, in the women’s 58kg.
The two medals supplement the bronze won by PNG’s Moera Baru at the weekend.
Pacific island athletes continue to compete as the Games’ competition heads into the middle section of the Games’ schedule.
Boxing
Samoan boxer Marion Ah Tong won his 70kg round of 16 match on Tuesday morning, to reach the quarterfinals.
He won his bout over Kiribati fighter Tavita Kaoma.
Solomon Islander Osward Talaka was beaten in the same round by Carl Hield from the Bahamas.
There were no other wins for Pacific boxers overnight.
Fiji’s Elijah Qiokata was beaten by Ghana’s Precious Akai Nettey, also in the men’s 70kg round of 16, Tuvalu’s Pasoni Badi Taafaki lost to Merven Clair from Mauritius and in a controversial decision Tonga’s Josh Tonga lost 3-2 on points in the 80kg round of 16.
Fiji’s Aminiasi Saratibau also lost his bout and ended his Games’ participation in the event.
Athletics
No Pacific Island runners have progressed beyond the heats of the 100 metres sprint.
In the men’s heats, PNG’s Pais Wisil ran a time of 10.57 seconds, but the slowest qualifiers clocked a time of 10.24 seconds.
Tuvalu’s Kanaee Malua and Maketi Faaniu Kesili both ran a season’s best.
In the women’s, Fiji’s Heleina Valetta Young was the only Pacific Island runner with a time inside 12 seconds, crossing the line in 11.76 seconds, but behind the slowest qualification time of 11.52.
Kiribati’s Aribeta Birita and Fiji’s Vaioleta Luka ran season’s best times as well.
Fiji’s Rusiate Matai has jumped a season’s best in the men’s high jump at the Commonwealth Games, but it was not enough for a medal.
Matai jumped 2.05 metres for a 9th-place finish.
Cook Islands’ Samasoni Hewitt finished 14th, the last of the jumpers who started.
In other athletics results, Fijian and PNG runners failed to progress from the heats of the women’s 800 metres.
Piritau Nga of the Cook Islands finished tenth and last in long jump qualifying; while Fiji’s Errol Bernard Qaqa and PNG’s Robert Oa were outside the qualification times in the men’s 110m hurdles heats.
On the courts
Tonga’s Tala won their first match at the Games when they defeated Northern Ireland 58-52 on Tuesday morning, following two heavy losses in their first two games.
In basketball, Tonga’s 3×3 women’s basketballers recorded a win over Singapore and a loss to England.
Papua New Guinea remain winless in the event after losing to England, 21-4, and Scotland, 21-5.
Fiji’s men also suffered two defeats, one to Singapore, 21-7, and the second to Kenya, 22-9.
Bowls
There were mixed results in the men’s singles competition on Monday night and Tuesday morning for the Pacific island players.
But the results did not matter as far as podium finish was concerned as none of the players made it into the semifinals.
Disappointments for Niue’s Frederick Tafatu, who lost 2-0 to South Africa’s Wayne Rittmuller and Singapore’s Harriman Yuen by the same margin.
Fiji’s Rajnesh Prasad, who had won his first three matches to be in semifinal contention, went down 2-0 to Wales Ross Owen, adding to two other losses earlier.
Norfolk islands Micthell Graham had a mixed day on the rinks, winning against Tonga’s Liam Hill 2-0 but then losing to New Zealand’s Shannon McIlroy 1.5-0.5.
Cook Islands Rodney Aperau won two games in the last 24 hours, beating Botswana’s Diza Mphotho 2-0 and claiming the tie-break against Namibia’s Waylon Wentzel.
In the women’s competition, none of the Pacific Island teams made it into the semifinals as well.
Fiji lost 2-0 to Canada and Cook Islands suffered the same fate against Scotland.
Norfolk Islands lost 1.5-0.5 to Malaysia, while Niue suffered the same losing result to Guernsey.
The competition continues until 2 August, with the closing ceremony on 3 August.
Australia continues to lead on the medal tally and had 26 gold, 13 silver and 20 bronze at the time of publishing.
England remains second, with Canada, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, Malaysia, India, Jamaica and New Zealand rounding out the top 10.
Samoa is at 15th spot at the moment with one silver, Nauru at 19 with one bronze, tied with PNG.
Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
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