2015 OWF ANNUAL REPORT Oceania Weightlifting Federation PB 333, Noumea Cedex 98845 NEW CALEDONIA Telephone: +687 467640 or +687 948756 Mobile: +61 457 778900 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Website: www.oceaniaweightlifting.com OCEANIA WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION 2015 ANNUAL REPORT PREAMBLE The OWF has once again produced excellent results over this past 12 months. The Oceania Championships for senior, junior and youth was held for the first time in conjunction with the Pacific Games in Port Moresby. It produced the highest number of competitors and country participation in its history. Other highlights was the successful elite training camp held at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute prior to the World Championships. The fourth year of the OTIP program was a remarkable success breaking the 5,000 entry mark – a mark which we predicted would happen this year. Another highlight in the region was the Commonwealth Youth Games held in Samoa which produced four gold, four silver and six bronze medals for the Oceania region. In addition the OWF Development seminar held in Apia was exceptional. It gives us immense pride and satisfaction in highlighting the OWF achievements for this year. FEBRUARY 2015 – SEMINAR IN PNG In the first week of February, the General Secretary spent a full week in Papua New Guinea holding coaching and technical seminars as well as visit the sites and facilities for the upcoming Pacific Games.. Weightlifting in PNG is enjoying great recognition in the country as the most successful sport internationally. Since Sir John Dawanincura and his team took over the sport, it has literally gone from strength to strength. Sir John Dawanincura with Paul Coffa at a press conference. FEBRUARY 2015 – EMAIL PACIFIC ISLANDS TOURNAMENT The 2015 Pacific Islands Email tournament turned out to be a great success. This tournament is producing some excellent results every year and it is good for the island nations as it kick starts their year of competition. The OWF is delighted to see that 335 lifters competed and just as important to see that 15 countries participated. FEBRUARY 2015 – Al Jazeera TV Paul Rhys, a sports journalist with Al Jazeera International Television network spent a few days in New Caledonia, doing a story on Morea Baru from Papua New Guinea and at the same time the Oceania Weightlifting Institute. The segment was put to air in March. MARCH 2015 – ARNOLD INTERNATIONAL On the 14th of March the Australian Weightlifting Federation held the Arnold International Tournament at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. The competition was organised in two sessions. The women’s session was held at 10.30am in the morning with 16 lifters competing and the men session was held at 2.00pm in the afternoon with 15 lifters participating. The overall best lifter on Sinclair formula in the women was Erika Ropati-Frost. Whilst in the men, the best lifter on Sinclair formula was Morea Baru from Papua New Guinea who competed in the 62kg category, totalling 278kg The event attracted a large audience throughout the day. As it was part of the Arnold Classic Expo, thousands of people who were attending also stopped to watch the weightlifting. APRIL 2015 – ONOC GENERAL SECRETARY VISIT Mr. Ricardo Blas, Secretary General of ONOC and President of the Guam National Olympic Committee on Friday, 10th April, spent almost a full day at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Mont Dore, New Caledonia. Whilst at the Institute he took the opportunity to meet the 25 weightlifting athletes from the 12 Pacific nations who are resident at the Institute. This was the first visit to the Institute for Mr. Blas and he was very impressed with not only the facilities, the set up but with the attitude of the 25 athletes in residence. Speaking to the athletes, he informed them, that he was happy to see the dividends coming through from the investments made by ONOC through solidarity, scholarships and other programs. Results were of paramount importance and he was pleased to see these results coming from the Institute APRIL 2015 – ONOC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR VISIT On Friday April 17 the ONOC Executive Director, Mr. Dennis Miller, spent almost a full day at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Mont Dore, New Caledonia. Dennis enjoyed the afternoon session of heavy training on Friday. He was joined for the session, by the Executive Director of the CTOS, Michel Quintin, and the President of Halterophilie in New Caledonia, Mr. Laurent Cassier and the Charge de Mission of the CTOS, Mr. Paul-Antoine Grangeon. Dennis, later that evening was a guest of the usual and now quite famous, institute Friday night dinner. Since the establishment of the institute program in Sigatoka, Fiji, in 2002, Dennis Miller has been responsible in providing ONOC/Solidarity scholarships to many pacific island lifters. And some of the recipients have gone on to win gold medals, silver medals and bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games and few have finished up winning medals at World Championships. Paul Coffa with Dennis Miller APRIL/MAYPaul Coffa with ONOC Dennis MillerASSEMBLY This year the ONOC Assembly was held in the luxurious Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva. A full week of seminars and meeting were held culminating with the ONOC Assembly on Saturday, 2nd May. Over 250 guests and delegates were in attendance including the President of the IOC, Mr. Thomas Bach. The Oceania Weightlifting Federation was represented by the Hon. Marcus Stephen, President(also President of the Nauru Olympic Committee) Paul Coffa, OWF General Secretary and Trent Dabwido, OWF Assistant Secretary. It was interesting to hear the President of the Republic of Fiji, in his opening speech praise the success of weightlifting in the region. He named all of the medal winners of the Pacific Islands at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. ONOC has weightlifting as a Tier 1 sport. And we share this position with rugby. Making it only two sports at Tier 1 level in the entire region. IOC President Thomas Bach with Paul Coffa Sir John Dawanincura President of PNG Weightlifting with and OWF President Hon. Marcus Stephen. IOC President Thomas Bach and Paul Coffa. MAY 2015 -PNG DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. The Weightlifting Federation of PNG which has invested very heavily in the sport of weightlifting, sent a their junior squad to the Oceania Weightliftng Institute in preparation for the Oceania Championships which was held in conjunction with the Pacific Games. This squad spent a full month at the Institute. MAY 2015 INSTITUTE VISIT BY SPORTS LEADERS During the month the institute was visited by leading sports officials from the Melanesian Region Members of the Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation Melanesian VIP’s top Sports Administrators visiting together with the four PNG lifters based at the Oceania the Oceania Weightlifting Institute. Institute in Mont Dore. JUNE 2015- SPORTS MINISTER VISITS THE INSTITUTE On Thursday, 4th June, a surprise visit was made by the New Caledonia Minister for Sport, Health and Youth, the Hon. Valentine Eurisouke. This was the Minister's first visit to the Oceania Weightlifting Institute and she was pleasantly surprised and very pleased to see 25 athletes in residence coming from 12 countries of the pacific. She addressed the athletes and wished them all. The Minister expressed how delighted she was that New Caledonia was able to contribute to their progress and their success. JULY 2015 ZKC INTERNATIONAL EMAIL TOURNAMENT: The ZKC Email International Club Tournament held in the month of June was once again a great success for club lifters. The winning club in the male section was MANU SAMOA . In the female section the winning club was the LTD CLUB from Papua New Guinea. The two winning clubs received two Olympic barbell sets from ZKC who is the sponsor of the tournament. On behalf of the OWF, I would like to thank the General Manager of the ZKC Company, Mr. Zhang Zhiguo, for his support and contribution towards this event and also towards the development of weightlifting at club level worldwide. We also would like to thank the IWF for their support in promoting the event. JULY 2015- PACIFIC GAMES & OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS Port Moresby made history in weightlifting. For the first time ever, 21 countries took part. These Games attracted the highest number of competitors in its history. The television coverage was excellent. Four days of direct telecast. The crowd was large, extremely enthusiastic and in some categories like the 53kg and 94kg, it was standing room only. For the first time in Games history, we had the pleasure of having the President of the International Weightlifting Federation Dr.Tamas Ajan in attendance. Also from Malaysia, we had the IWF Vice President and the President of the Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation, Dato Ong Poh Eng, together with Mr. Attila Adamfi the IWF Director General . We were also honoured with the attendance of Prince Andrew, Duke of York during the 48Kg category on the first day of the Games. Mr Attila Adamfi,IWF Director General meets The weightlifting venue in Port Moresby. It was almost full at every sessions. Prince Andrew Duke of York in Port Moresby. The stadium was set up similar to a world championships. The venue was of World Championships standard. The warm up area had 10platforms – all ZKC equipment. All other facilities were provided in close proximity to the warm up area, such as the weigh-in, rest rooms, saunas, etc. At the opening ceremony, 50% of the countries’ flag bearers were weightlifters. Dika Toua was the final baton runner and she lit the torch. The loaders, did a tremendous job for the four day duration. It was nice to see that Jerry Wallwork, OWF 1st Vice President, at the conclusion of the Games was awarded the best coach of the Games.