The proposed team.
The KAA team to travel next month to Cairns will include one jumper, two throwers, and four sprinter/jumpers, all male and in the Open age-group.
The jumper is David Birati, national record (NR) holder of the Mens' High Jump (HJ). He is due to leave at the end of April for two months intensive training at the Oceania High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) on Gold Coast, prior to travelling with the Kiribati delegation to the Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG) in early July. His main interest in the competition will be the HJ, Long Jump (LJ), and possibly Triple Jump (TJ).
The two throwers will be Itaaka Temwaka and Bwareeta Tunee. They will both compete in Shot and Discus, but Bwareeta is better in the former while Itaaka is superior in the Discus. For both it will be the result of much sweat and effort in training and will be their international debuts.
The four sprinter/jumpers (whose events are yet to be finalised) are Enoka Kirata (20), John Ruka (19), Utiraoi Takaria (18) and Enetty Isopo (17). For John this is a case of "third time lucky" - hoping he goes and competes - because it was intended for him to represent Kiribati in two previous competitions but, for various reasons (see earlier stories !), he never got there ! These athletes will hopefully cover the 100m., 200m., LJ, TJ, and 4 x 100m. Relay between them. All except Utiraoi will be making their international debuts.
Their coach/team manager will be Nei (Ms) Kairao Tune, Treasurer of KAA.
Waiting for passports and visas.
David's Australian visa has been granted so now only his travel has to be arranged and confirmed. For the other six athletes and Nei Kairao, they should all have (original or new, machine-readable Kiribati) passports by April 7th. and then they must wait for their visas.
The team is due to arrive in Cairns on May 5th. and leave on May 11th.
A Starter too !
Also travelling to Cairns from Kiribati will be the newly-elected KAA Vice-President, Tonobwa Kaoten, who will be attending an IAAF TOECS Starters' course.
Images.
A Shot putter, a Discus thrower, David Birati doing HJ, improvised TJ, and a sprint group training.
Also Tonobwa in Sydney 2014; and Utiraoi in mauve lavalava in Cook Islands 2014.
Last Modified on 10/04/2015 07:25