From Eugene to Birmingham.
In the company of his coach, Leanne, Lataisi flew from Eugene to Birmingham on his birthday. He was carrying no recognisable national competition kit, i.e. red top and blue base, to imitate/represent the excellent and meaningful national flag ! A number of people tried to assist in solving this, but that colour combination is not popular in most sports/Athletics stores in UK. So he ran in a one-off design. (Image)
His race. (Images from BBC TV live.)
On the morning of Tuesday, August 02, again running in lane 5, Lataisi finished 8th. of the 8 in Heat 9 (of 10). His time was an improvement on his Eugene effort, this time 11.33. But of the six other Pacific island countries repesented in the M100m., i.e. Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Nauru and Tuvalu, only the Tuvalu athlete set a slower time. This fact helps to emphasise the point about KAA having to recognise how far there is for I-Kiribati male athletes to improve to be competitive on the world stage. For their sprinters, someone needs to break their Mens' 100m. National Record (11.00); but that's hard when training on a sand/rock/grass track !
The other KNOC entries in Birmingham ?
Apart from Lataisi, seven other sports-people had been entered by KNOC in the Birmingham CWG. In the event, five came. Their results were:- Weight-lifting. Trying to follow the example of his gold-medallist brother David (eight years earlier in Glasgow), 24-year-old Ruben Katoatau contested the 67 Kg. category. Lifting 114 kg. (Snatch) and 144 kg. (Clean and Jerk) for a total of 258 kg., Ruben was ranked 6th. of the 9 lifters.
Boxing. Five boxers were entered, of whom four came. Their best result came from Welterweight Toaua Bangke (26) who lost his first round, won his second and was close in the third to lose on points 2-3. 19-year-old Flyweight Eriu Temakau lasted three rounds but lost on points 0-5. For brothers Betero and Timon Aree (aged 26, Featherweight and Light Welterweight respectively), each lasted less than three minutes, the referee stopping their contests. (Terri Steven (23) was the missing boxer.)
Judo ? Female judoka Nei Kinaua Biribo (who had also fought in Tokyo last year) had been entered but did not compete.
At some time I may receive an official report from KNOC about theses performances; at that point I could update this article !
Last Modified on 14/08/2022 07:05