OCEANIA WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION

Latest News May 2016

With seven days to go to the 2016 Oceania Championships for Senior, Junior and Youth and the Olympic Qualification for Rio - Fiji is set to go.

Atma Maharaj, the President of Fiji Weightlifting assisted by Dr. Robin Mitchell, Chris Yee and Sikeli Tuinamuana. together with a huge army of volunteers have overcome major challenges created by Cyclone Winston, to stage what is anticipated to be a magnificent event.

The Vodafone Arena- , the venue for this year’s championships Dr Tamas Ajan President IWF

Fiji has attracted many VIP’s from the weightlifting world, headed by the President of the IWF, Dr. Tamas Ajan. :These are some of our guests who will be in Suva – and not in any particular order :

Major General Intarat Yodbangtoey – IWF Vice President and Thailand Weightlifting Federation President Mr Jose Quinones – IWF Vice President and Peru National Olympic Committee President Dr. Antonio Urso – European Weightlifting President and Italian Weightlifting Federation President.. Dato Ong Poh Eng, IWF Vice President and Malaysia Weightlifting Federation President. Mr Sam Coffa – IWF Vice President and President of the Australian Association, Mr Attila Adamfi -Hungary, IWF Director General Mr Mohamed Jaloud – IWF Executive Board Member and Asian Weightlifting Federation General Secretary Hon. Marcus Stephen – Oceania Weightlifting Federation President and Nauru National Olympic Committee President Dr. Magdolna Trombitas – Hungary , IWF Legal Counsel Mr Ricardo Blas – Guam , ONOC General Secretary and President of Guam National Olympic Committee Sir John Dawanincura – PNG, President PNG National Olympic Committee and President PNG Weightlifting Fed. Mr. Dominic Cain - Nauru – Secretary General, Nauru National Olympic Committee Hon. David Collins MP Kiribati Minister for Sport Senator Anthony Muller- Marshall Islands Mr Andrew Minogue- , CEO Council Mr Alan Tano- Niue- President Niue Olympic & Sports Association Mr Terry Sasser- Marshall Islands, General Secretary Marshall Islands National Olympic Committee Mr Henry Tavoa – Vanuatu, CEO Vanuatu National Olympic Committee Mr Takitoa Taumoepeau -Tonga, Secretary General Tonga National Olympic Committee

 The Championships will be held at the Vodafone Arena in the heart of the sporting complexes of Suva. The warm up area will have ten platforms whilst the training venue will be held at the National Sports Centre with 24 platforms for training.  The equipment used will be the ZKC equipment, who are the officials suppliers for the 2016 Olympic Games.

 The Opening Ceremony will be held at 6.00pm on Tuesday, 24th May with the guest of honour being His Excellency the President of the Republic of Fiji ,Major General (ret'd) Jioji Konousi Konrote OF (Mil), MC, SBSt.J, MSD, OM

 In the way of transport, all delegations will be picked up at the Suva Airport and those two or three who are arriving in Nadi will also be transported to Suva.

 The verification of entries will be held at 6.00pm at the Vodafone Arena on the Monday, 23rd May.

OWF ELECTORAL CONGRESS The OWF Congress will be held at the Mayoral Chambers of the Suva City Council at 9.00am on Tuesday, 24th May. Transport will be made available for delegations who are staying at the designated hotels, Peninsula, Tanoa Plaza, FASANOC Suva Apartments and Best Western. Those who have made private arrangements for accommodation need to make their own way to the Congress.

The Congress is expected to finish at approximately 12.00pm where lunch will be served thereafter.  Following lunch, at 2.00pm, there will be an Anti-Doping Seminar organised by Dr. Magdolna Trombitas from the IWF. The seminar will last one hour.  Following the anti-doping seminar, the technical seminar for technical officials officiating at the championships will be conducted at 3.00pm at the same venue.

OWF GENERAL SECRETARY VISITS FIJI On April, 17th, 18th and 19th, the General Secretary of the OWF visited Fiji in the lead up to the Oceania Championships. A long meeting was held at the ONOC offices with the Organising Committee headed by Dr. Robin Mitchell – IOC Member. It covered all areas of the championships. Also a visit was made at the Vodafone Arena with engineers, construction crews, etc.

OTHER NEWS

VANUATU This past week in Vanuatu the ONOC General Assembly was held including the Electoral Meeting of the Pacific Games Council. The President of the OWF, the Hon. Marcus Stephen was re-elected as Vice President ( Sports) of the PGC. Also Laurent Cassier – President of New Caledonia Weightlifting, was elected to the position of Vice President (Marketing) Congratulations to both gentlemen.

KIRIBATI

Congratulations to David Collins, the President of the Kiribati National Olympic Committee, who was recently elected to Parliament and has been given now the Ministry for Women, Youth, Social Affairs and Sports.

The Hon. David Collins, has for many years been a strong supporter of weightlifting. In fact David was responsible for getting David Katoatau to the Oceania Institute and has continued to ensure his tenure at the Institute. All of his efforts paid off in Glasgow, Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, when David Katoatau won a gold medal in the 105kg category and became the first ever Kiribati to win a medal at Commonwealth Games level.

SOLOMON ISLANDS Congratulations to Solomon Islands for its successful bid in winning the 2023 Pacific Games to now be held in Honiara. A special mention must be made to Martin Rara, the President of the Solomon Islands Olympic Committee for his efforts in securing the Pacific Games for Honiara.

SAMOA SPORTS AWARDS Weightlifting made a clean sweep at their recent Sports Awards in Apia. Congratulation to Jerry Wallwork for his brilliant work in developing weightlifting to such an elite level. Weightlifting won:  Coach of the Year: Tuapepe Jerry Wallwork  Sports Woman of the Year: Mary Opeloge  Sports Man of the Year: Siaosi Leuo  Junior Sport Woman of the Year: Feagaiga Stowers  Junior Sportman of the Year : Maeo Nanai Levi  Supreme Sports person of the Year: Mary Opeloge  Also a great honour was bestowed upon Seiuli Paul Wallwork. Seiuli was inducted in the Hall of Fame for his immense contribution to sports in Samoa. Not only for his international ability as a great weightlifter in the past’ but also as a coach and sports leader.

From left: Tuapepe Jerry Wallwork, Feagaiga Stowers, Mary Seiul Paul Wallwork, OWF Opeloge, Maeo Nanai Levi and Siaosi Leuo. past President 1992- 2008

FIJI SPORTS AWARDS Despite the devastation caused by Cyclone Winston which completely destroyed the weightlifting centre in Levuka which was completed only 12 months before, this devastation did not stop the success of Fiji Weightlifting.

At the recent Fiji Sports Awards evening,  Joe Vueti, won the Coach of the Year

 Della Shaw-Elder won the Official of the Year

 Whilst the Junior Athlete of the Year went to the 2015 Gold Medallist – Eileen Cikamatana.

 Sports Administration of the Year also went to Weightlifting Fiji.

Joe Vueti - Coach of the Year Della Shaw - Elder Technical Official of the Year Eileen Cikamatana -Junior Sport women of the Year Della Shaw- Elder Technical Official of the Year TECHNICAL SEMINAR An ‘Oceania Regional Technical Certificate’ seminar will be conducted on Sunday 22nd May 9.00am to 5.00pm and Monday 23rd May 9.00am to 3.00pm at the Tanoa Plaza Hotel. This seminar is fully funded by the IWF for one candidate from each island nation. Candidates for this seminar have been nominated by their respective federations for this new level, with some candidates who have had years of experience in the sport to be considered for upgrading to category two. We must thank Dr. Tamas Ajan for the approval of this seminar as he is very keen to see the development of technical officials within the pacific islands region.

Finally, please take note of these two points.

1. Those countries who have not yet paid their membership to the IWF, must do so in cash at the Verification of Entries. The fees are USD$500. They are to be paid directly to the IWF Director General, Mr. Attila Adamfi.

2. Accreditation will be handled by Mrs. Jacqui Kami. She will be at the Peninsula Hotel . Upon your arrival in Suva, the responsible team delegate who is in charge of picking up the accreditations must pay USD$50 per athlete whether senior, junior and youth and also the officials who has been included on the entry forms.

3. Non-accredited personnel will have no free access to transport, and no free access to the competition venues.

Paul Coffa MBE OWF General Secretary