SUNNITY IS THE STAR !
With good performances in all his events, Sunnity Aritema has won two silver medals and one bronze in the under-20 Oceania Championships in Cairns, North Queensland. First he hit the podium by finishing second (36.51m.) in the Discus on Day 1 (Sept. 23). This was with the infrequently used 1.75 kg. plate, which fortunately we have in use in Kiribati for his age-group. This feat he repeated on Day 2, having only started Hammer-Throwing a month ago ! Again, the 6 kg. Shot and Hammer are in use for this age-group, and these we DO NOT have in Kiribati, the nearest being a 5.5 kg. Shot and 5 kg. Hammer. His medal effort was worth 24.39m. Finally, on Day 3, he placed third in the Shot with 12.46m. (a PB with this implement). Not bad for first-time overseas !
DAVID'S SILVER THIS TIME.
David Birati travelled to Cairns as the existing Open HJ champion from 2008, our first-ever gold at the Oceania level. This time he had to settle for the silver medal, nevertheless a creditable performance. Even more creditable when the winner did 2.20m. and David broke his own National Record by clearing 1.93m.
AT or NEAR their BEST.
The others all competed and mostly set at least one PB. There were a few mysterious absences on Day 3, which doubtless will be eventually explained.
Part of the explanation is as follows:- David was injured during the HJ competition on Day 2, landing on the bar on the mat. At least one of the missed Finals on Day 3 was due to the inexperience of the athletes and coaches who did not check carefully enough to see if runners had qualified ! Fortunately only an improvement in times was at stake.
See the attached result details.
(Refer to the Oceania Athletics web-site for a photo of Sunnity.)
Last Modified on 30/09/2010 20:32