The final sixteen national sports federations to compete in the upcoming Pacific Games have been named.
They are men’s soccer, athletics, boxing, taekwondo, lawn tennis, weightlifting, judo, karate, rugby sevens, triathlon, women soccer, rugby sevens, beach volleyball, swimming, table tennis (men), and basketball (men).
The National Olympic Committee of the Solomon Islands (NOCSI) has confirmed that the final list which consists of the sixteen sports that will participate in the games. NOCSI president Fred Maetoloa confirmed to the Star Sports that the final list has been sent to New Caledonia. “The names of the participating sports has been sent to the host country last two weeks after NOCSI announced that the cutoff date for the final listing was on February 27. “Now that the final list has been sent, there will be no more inclusion nor be any subtraction to the final list,” he said. Star Sports understands that a late elimination of any sport federation from the final list will result in a fine to the host country.
The only possibility is for NOCSI is to cut the number of athletes to participate if they all are not prepared for the games, but must send at least an athlete to represent each 16 sports named to take part in the Games. Last year NOCSI first released the eight names of sports federations to take part in this year’s Pacific Games in New Caledonia. They are athletics, boxing, taekwondo, lawn tennis; weightlifting, judo, karate and football (men) were announced last year by National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI). These eight federations were selected following assessment by the national selection justification committee because they are medal prospect. Past performances of the sports federations in various international outings have also been taken into account as part of NOCSI’s selection criteria. Also apart those that received green light are federations such as basketball (men), table tennis (men), beach volleyball (men), bodybuilding, golf (two athletes) and swimming (three athletes). These sports have also been given participation chances but conditioned upon raising their level of competitiveness to win medals for the country next year, according to the justification committee. They will also be part of the contingent but will be continuously monitored by the Justification Committee. Rugby Seven was then one of the codes that made late submission to the committee for consideration.
Courtesy Triathalon Solomon Islands (TriSl)
Last Modified on 06/09/2011 07:40