Pac Sports
Pac Sports
Pac Sports
SPG Wake Up Call
Samoans Still Confident About Games
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| A panoramic shot of Tuana’imato where the 300 acre Faleata Sports Complex is located housing the majority of the games sports facilities such as FIFA standard soccer fields and the SAT$35 million Aquatic Centre in the background. - PHOTO: South Pacific Games Authority |
An extravagant electronic clock takes pride of place at the main entrance to Samoa’s government buildings. First constructed as part of the countdown to the new millennium, it’s a reminder of the ultimately unfounded fears about Y2K catastrophes.
Fast-forward seven years and the clock is now counting down to another major event, the Pacific Games in August. However a similar element of fear now presides—that the games will be a logistical disaster. At least that was the conclusion that the majority of the team managers representing 22 countries came to when they met at the pre-games Chef De Missions meeting in Apia in late March.
For many months, the information being spun out of Samoa has been positive. Magnificent facilities were being constructed on time, sponsors were slowly but gradually coming on board, and infighting between sports officials, which had plagued preparations at the beginning were also resolved, so they said.
But the goodwill came crashing back to earth after an inspection of the venues and facilities by visiting delegates who attended the three-day meeting. Among the criticisms was the slow progress with the construction of amenities such as toilets, living quarters and showers to be used by athletes and officials at the games “villages,” the lack of accommodation options for an expected 5,000 athletes, officials and supporters, and several of the smaller sports venues, which were seen as below par and behind schedule.
The real problem was the SPGA, the Samoa Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (SASNOC) and other organizing committee officials, were ill-prepared for the barrage of questions that faced them following their presentations. Issues such as visas, accreditation, customs clearances and other vital logistical information were, according to some delegates, not answered or explained sufficiently.
However, the preparations for the games were subsequently defended by the minister in charge of the games, Faumuina Liuga, and SPGA CEO Fonoti Etuale Ioane. Vidhya Lakhan, president of the South Pacific Games Council, also told delegates not to worry as he had already pre-inspected the facilities prior to the Chef De Missions meeting and the council had been satisfied with the progress.
There’s an old saying amongst Samoans, and that is they prefer to do things on “Samoan time.” So while mutterings of discontent will no doubt continue, there is still a quiet confidence from the locals that the games will proceed with everything in place. But the lesson is clear. Being an island nation with a Third World economy is no longer any excuse for inadequate hosting of the showpiece sports event in the Pacific.
Beijing Beckons Micronesian Pair
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| Weightlifting: Yukio Peter attempts a 194kg clean and jerk at last year’s Commonwealth Championship in Apia, Samoa. PHOTO: OWF
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They reinforced their growing reputations by dominating a world class field of 200 lifters in March at the Arnold Schwarzenegger International Classic in Columbus, Ohio in the United States. Peter was the overall winner on Sinclair formula in the 77kg category whilst in second place overall was Manuel Minginfel competing in the 62kg category.
According to the institute’s head coach, Paul Coffa, another name to watch out for ahead of the South Pacific Games is Ele Opeloge of Samoa, who is already the highest ranked women’s lifter in the heavyweight category in the Oceania region after just two years training. She followed her older brother Niusila (the current Men’s 105kg Oceania number one ranked lifter) into the sport. At a pre-games trial held in Samoa in March, Opeloge lifted a total of 240kg, which would have won her a silver medal at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Cricket’s Showpiece Within Reach
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| The Papua New Guinea team which won the ICC EAP Under 18 Cricket 8’s in Samoa. - PHOTO: ICC E |
While the world’s eyes were focused on the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean in March and April, the sport’s regional bosses were busy developing young Pacific island talent in the hope they may one day rub shoulders with the world’s best. The East-Asia Pacific Under 15 Cricket 8’s tournament held in Samoa in February was treated as a breeding ground for the Pacific’s best junior players. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has identified junior development as crucial to the future of regional game. But it is not the standard of players currently being identified as junior level, but the numbers, that is worrying regional officials.
“Involvement numbers are incredibly important to the development of cricket in the region. The standard at the recent U15 Cricket 8’s in Samoa was amazing. (But) the hope for the competing countries is that these young ‘men’ stay in the system and continue through to U19 and senior level,” says Bron Madigan, ICC East-Asia Pacific Regional Project Officer.
Papua New Guinea and Fiji are where the game is currently strongest, and both countries are expected to vie for the gold at the upcoming South Pacific Games. Underlying the strength of the game in PNG is their victory at the U15 Cricket 8’s in Samoa.
Guam Baseball Suspended
Guam baseball is struggling to get back on its feet after a one-two punch that knocked it out of international competition and put the island’s top local league on hold while it reorganized. The defending Pacific Games gold medal team was suspended from any international play by the Baseball Confederation of Oceania because the Guam Baseball Federation failed to pay $4,000 in fines. The fines were levied for Guam’s failure to participate, after making commitments, in the 2003 Oceania Regional Championships in Palau and the 2004 regional Olympic qualifier in Australia, said John Ostermeyer, BCO president.
“They just didn’t show,” Ostermeyer said of the team at the Palau tournament. “They didn’t offer any explanation, nothing. It was the same in Australia.” When the fines—mandated by BCO bylaws—were not paid, the BCO Congress voted unanimously to suspend Guam. “Usually, the Pacific Islands are sympathetic to one another,” said Ostermeyer. “But they all agreed on this.” In order to be readmitted to the BCO, Guam will have to pay the fines and be readmitted to the Guam Olympic committee. The GBF also failed, as required, to attend enough monthly meetings of the Guam National Olympic Committee.
Meanwhile, the local government’s Office of the Public Auditor released a report that noted irregularities in a contract between the baseball federation and the government’s Department of Parks and Recreation for the lease of the Paseo Baseball Stadium. More than $1 million in tax credits were issued to underwrite the stadium’s upkeep without proper documentation or procurement procedures, and GBF President Mark Charfauros drew a $45,000 annual salary as diamond keeper, according to the report. Following the report, the lease was canceled.
The cancellation of the lease came in the middle of the Budweiser Baseball League season. The league was also overseen by the GBF and Charfauros was its commissioner. With the cancellation of the contract and GBF’s expulsion from the Olympic committee, the league needed a new organization in which to operate. The first BBL game under Guam Major League Inc. was held Thursday, April 5 and the season picked up where it left off. The organization was hastily formed by the league’s corporate sponsors who hired Jake Barnes as commissioner. “We’re going to keep baseball alive,” Barnes said of the island’s most popular sport. “This is the first step.”
A new organization will have to apply to represent baseball on the Olympic committee, said Ricardo Blas, GNOC president. “One concern I have is that no member of the previous board can be a member of the new board,” said Blas. The new organization’s charter should provide for representation of all Guam baseball organizations and eliminate such irregular provisions as lifetime memberships, Blas said.
The suspension of a strong competitor is a loss for baseball in the region, Ostermeyer acknowledged. “But [the region] loses more if we do nothing,” he said. Many countries in the region are poorer financially than Guam, yet live up to their commitments, often with difficulty. “If anything we might be tempted to make exceptions for the weaker nations, not for the strong.”
