Oceania Weightlifting Federation

Latest News June 25 , 2012 FAFETAI LAVA SAMOA Thank you Samoa for organising such a great and exciting event. The 2012 Commonwealth and Oceania Senior, Junior and Youth Championships and Continental Olympic Qualification event came to an end on the 9th June. Congratulations to Jerry Wallwork, the President of Samoa Weightlifting and Chairman of the Organising Committee for his outstanding work in organising such a major event.

Most important and special thanks to the Prime Minister The Hon. Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi and the Government of Samoa for financing and supporting this major event which coincided with the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Samoa’s Independence.

The enthusiastic crowd gave the lifters an added boost in their competition. The venue was brilliantly set up , having the training hall only 100 metres away from the competition venue. There were great battles in many categories, especially the 77kg category in the men. This was possibly the highlight of the championships.

The television coverage was excellent – with live television for the The Prime Minister of Samoa with Dr Ajan at the Opening three and half day event including the opening ceremony. The Ceremony at the Tuanaimato Sports Complex regional weightlifting leaders were very honoured that the President

C of the IWF, Dr. Tamas Ajan attended the championships for the full week.

Young Bob Pesaleli 77Kg Category Dr Tamas Ajan received a PNG The Hon. Marcus Stephen OWF Mary Opeloge –Samoa wins from Samoa in brilliant form gift from Dika Toua President with Dr Tamas Ajan the 75Kg class –Senior & Junior

The Indian Team which dominated the Commonwealth Championships came in full force. (report on the Commonwealth championships will be made in the next CWF newsletter) They entered full Senior, Junior and Youth teams in both men and women. The IWF provided all the competition software and the whole event was run under the IWF Competition Director, Attila Adamfi along with his team of experts Csaba Irizer and Zoltan Veres.

The opening ceremony of the 2012 Commonwealth and Oceania Weightlifting Championships on June 5th Natanya Potoi - Ulia, the Director of ORADO and her team conducted all dope testing at the Championships. This was supervised by an IWF representative from Hungary, Barbara Kallo. The Opening Ceremony was vibrant in typical Samoan fashion. The Samoa Police Force did an excellent job in escorting the VIP’s. The Organising Committee gave all countries the opportunity to make their own accommodation arrangements, thereby allowing each country to stay within their own budgets. The unique buses of Samoa were utilized to transport teams and officials to and from the competition and training venues. Special thanks must go to the many volunteers of the Organising Committee very capably run by Julia Wallwork, Losa Wallwork, Heleni Wallwork, and June Ryan. They all did a tremendous job with the running of the event.

Typical Samoan buses transporting the The training hall was well equipped with School children enjoying the entertainment lifters staying at different hotels. 25 training platforms during the breaks.

On the technical side, the referees under the management of Sam Coffa IWF Vice President & Chairman of the IWF Technical Commission, worked extremely hard as they were limited in numbers. And the OWF and CWF would like to thank all referees who attended for their contribution to the event. Special thanks must also go to Dato Ong Poh Eng, IWF Executive Board Member for coming in from Malaysia to assist on the technical side.

Unfortunately quite a few injuries occurred during these championships which kept Dr. Moni Kami, the OWF doctor on duty, quite busy throughout the tournament. Also we would like to thank Eric Rosario for looking after quite a lot of athletes with massaging. Eric is a specialist in Exercise Physiology and Remedial Massage.

There was some real surprises in the team classification. The two big guns of the Oceania Region, Nauru and Samoa, due to injuries failed to qualify in the men. In addition the other surprise were the up and coming teams of Kiribati, Fiji and PNG with American Samoa and Tonga just missing out. These are the team points for men and women: In the men division only the first five teams received one spot each for London. In the women division only the first four teams received one spot each for London.

MEN WOMEN 1 Australia 148 points 1 lifter for London 1 Samoa 106 points 1 lifter for London 2 Kiribati 142 points 1 lifter for London 2 PNG 103 points 1 lifter for London 3 Fiji 141 points 1 lifter for London 3 Fiji 98 points 1 lifter for London 4 New Zealand 139 points 1 lifter for London 4 Australia 98 points 1 lifter for London 5 PNG 127 points 1 lifter for London 5 New Zealand 94 points 6 A. Samoa 117 points 6 Solomon Is. 53 points 7 Tonga 116 points 7 Marshall Is. 43 points 8 Nauru 110 points 8 Nauru 23 points 9 Samoa 99 points 9 Tonga 23 points 10 Marshall Is. 41 points 10 Cook Islands 21 points 11 Micronesia 28 points 12 Palau 21 points 13 Tuvalu 20 points 14 Vanuatu 20 points 15 Solomon Is. 19 points

It was great to see that three times Olympian, Manuel Minginfel from FSM, qualified on his own merit in the 62kg category and therefore he will be competing in London for Micronesia in his fourth Olympic Games. His performance in Samoa was brilliant. His total of 280kg placed him as the best weightlifter of the tournament. Manuel Minginfel – Micronesia FSM

Another Olympian, Itte Detenamo from Nauru in the 105+ category, also qualified on his own merit and therefore he will represent Nauru in his third Olympics. To qualify on your own merit, you need to be in the top 15 in the world.

OWF Electoral Congress The OWF Electoral Congress was held at the brand new convention centre of Samoa. This is the first time ever that nineteen countries of the twenty-two members, have been in attendance. Also in attendance was Dr. Tamas Ajan IWF President, Mr. Sam Coffa – IWF Vice President, Dato Ong Poh Eng – IWF Executive Board Member and many other guests invited including the President of the Indian Weightlifting Federation Shri Birendra Prasad Baishya.

The 2012 OWF Electoral Congress held at the new Samoa Convention Centre on June the 5th was attended by a record number of Oceania countries.

The new board elected for the next quadrennial period for the OWF are:

President: Hon. Marcus Stephen – Nauru General Secretary/Treasurer: Paul Coffa – Australia Assistant Secretary: Matthew Curtain – Australia 1st Vice President: Jerry Wallwork – Samoa Vice President: Frank Robby – Papua New Guinea Vice President: Sam Pera – Cook Islands Executive Board Members: Kokoria Iabeta – Kiribati Phil Maunder – Australia Manuel Minginfel – Micronesia Technical Chairman: Garry Marshall – New Zealand Medical Chairman: Dr. Moni Kami – Tonga Masters Chairman: Lawrie Townsend – Australia

Two special awards were presented during the Congress. An OWF Life Membership was presented to Seiuli Paul Wallwork- Samoa, past President of the OWF – 1992 to 2008, in recognition for his many years of valuable service to the sport. Also the OWF awarded Dr. Tamas Ajan, the Honorary Life President of the OWF in recognition for his commitment to the advancement of the Oceania region. Dr. Ajan established the OWF in Melbourne, Australia in November 1980.

Seiuli Paul Wallwork , OWF President from 1992 to 2008 received the Dr Tamas Ajan was awarded the Honorary Life President of the OWF Life Membership award. From left Dr .Ajan, Seiuli , the Hon. Marcus OWF . From left the Hon. Marcus Stephen, Dr Tamas Ajan , Sam Coffa Stephen President OWF, with OWF General Secretary Paul Coffa. IWF Vice President with OWF Assistant Secretary Matthew Curtain.

THE O.T.I.P. The Oceania Weightlifting Federation talent identification program (OTIP) was launched during the Oceania Championships in Samoa on June 4th at the Millenia Hotel. Dr. Tamas Ajan, President of the IWF, before launching the program gave a speech and praised the OWF for their foresight in the development of young lifters at school level throughout the Pacific Island nations. The program will be co-ordinated by the OWF General Secretary, Paul Coffa, in conjunction with all national federations of the region. It will be conducted throughout the months of June, July and August. The international training camp will be held in the month of September at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in New Caledonia

Paul Coffa explains the concept of the OTIP Dr Tamas Ajan launches the OTIP program Mr CK Tan from ZHEN-AO supporting the program.

OWF / CWF combined seminars As part of the development program of the IWF, seminars were conducted during the week of the championships.  A technical seminar for club and national referees was conducted on Monday June 4th at the Millenia Hotel by Garry Marshall (New Zealand).  An administration seminar was also conducted by Attila Adamfi from the IWF, prior to the verification of entries on June 4th.  On June 5th, Matthew Curtain, the Weightlifting Manager of the London Olympics made a presentation on the final stages of the Games preparations.  A more advanced referees seminar for Category 1 and Category 2 was conducted by Sam Coffa – Chairman of the IWF Technical Commission on June 5th at the Millenia Hotel.  On June 7th an athletes educational program was presented by Michael Keelan from Australia. The seminar was well attended by many young lifters of the Pacific islands. This was followed by a presentation on cultural assimilation by Trent Dabwido from Nauru. Both lecturers were very informative and relevant to the attendees. Dr. Moni Kami did a presentation on injury prevention and nutrition.  On June 8th Lyn Jones gave a lecture on coaching. . Lyn in his usual manner was very inspiring with his points very relevant to the coaches who attended. The first part of his lecture was so informative that it was decided to continue with the second part of his lecture at next years Oceania championships in Wallis & Futuna. .  The ADAMS whereabouts lecture was postponed to London and it will be done during the CWF Congress in London on August 5th, as it will be attended by many countries and therefore more advantageous to the OWF and CWF countries.

Garry Marshall (New Zealand) the new appointed OWF Technical Chairman Matthew Curtain, the London Olympic Games Weightlifting Manager.

OTHER NEWS

 The OWF Executive Board has decided to adopt the same system that other continents have in place and that is that all Oceania records can only be broken in events which have doping control and refereed by at least two Category 2 referees and one national referee.

 The 2013 Oceania Junior and Youth Championships will be held in conjunction with the Arafura Games in Darwin in the month of May.

 The 2014 Oceania and South Pacific Senior, Junior and Youth Championships was awarded to Fiji. This event will also serve as the Olympic Qualification event for the Youth Olympic Games.

 The first Oceania Masters Championships was held in Brisbane on June 15th to 17th. Almost 100 lifters took part and the event was an enormous success with quite a few masters world records broken. The General Secretary of the OWF attended the event and held discussions with the newly appointed Masters Chairman – Lawrie Townsend. One of the issues discussed was to establish Oceania records for the Masters.

 The OWF wishes to congratulate Sir John Dawanincura – President of PNG Weightlifting ,who last week was elected President of the PNG National Olympic Committee.