Monday 29 August marked the beginning of the Team’s Events at the 2011 Pacific Games in Noumea, which is the capital city of the French territory New Caledonia.
In the Men’s Team event the traditional Pacific powerhouses of New Caledonia, Tahiti, Fiji, and Vanuatu all came through day one of competition unscathed. For Vanuatu however, they had the narrowest of escapes.
In round one against Nauru, who are competing in their first ever international competition after being reestablished as a functioning National Association in 2010, Vanuatu came through with a five matches to four victory. For Nauru the trio of Sharky Itaia, O’Brian Itaia, and Juwaida Stephen all defeated the Vanuatu youngster Samuel Saul and Sharky Itaia additionally recorded a victory over Randy Benjamin. For Vanuatu the saving grace was 2009 Mini Pacific Games Men’s Singles Gold Medalist Yoshua Shing who won all three of his matches without the loss of a single game. Randy Benjamin also claimed two victories as he overcame Juwaida Stephen and then in the pivotal ninth match he recorded a five games victory over O’Brian Itaia to ensure Vanuatu emerged successful.
In other matches in the morning session, Tahiti overpowered Guam to the tune of nine matches to zero, Fiji won eight matches to one over Papua New Guinea, and host nation New Caledonia received a walk over against Tonga who did not arrive in time due to missing their flight.
In the afternoon session there were closer matches overall. Papua New Guinea emerged successful against a spirited Solomon Islands outfit five matches to four, and Nauru overcame Palau by six matches to three. Additionally Vanuatu received a walk over against Tonga.
In the evening round of matches things were again one sided as New Caledonia trounced Palau without the loss of a single match, and Fiji lost only one match en route to beating Guam. Nauru also claimed a forfeit over Tonga.
The group phase will complete tomorrow before the medals are decided on Wednesday. One feels that the medal contenders were just feeling their way through the day, the longer the competition runs, the more heat will undoubtedly be turned on.
Last Modified on 31/08/2011 09:30