OCEANIA WEIGHTLIFTING STARTS TODAY
Booking a spot at the Rio Olympics in Brazil means everything for Fiji as they take to the stage in the Oceania Weightlifting Championships today at the Vodafone Arena, Suva.
Fiji Weightlifting head coach Joe Vueti said like every other country, qualifying for Rio is the only goal they have set and is confident his lifters will achieve that goal. “Qualifying for the Olympics is everything to us and more because it is the most important event happening this year,” Vueti said. “For us, we are not worried about winning gold medals; the main focus is doing our best on the day everyday to make sure we make that final cut.
“All the countries are well prepared, we have the big guns like Australia, New Zealand and Samoa and for sure Fiji will give them a good run for their money. “But we are confident that we will qualify two athletes for the Rio Olympics.”
With the first day of competitions starting today, Vueti said they were taking each day as it comes and targeting to do well.
“It’s going to be big, especially for our athletes and we are looking forward to the championships,” he
said. “We are confident we are going to start well tomorrow (today) and our target is for us to do well and scooping a couple of gold medals on the first day. “I’m really surprised with most of the athletes, in the last couple of training sessions they were not really well prepared but now everything has come together, everyone is focused and more fired up for the championships.” Vueti thanked the sponsors who have been supporting the athletes and have urged the public to show up in numbers to support the team.