Cikamatana quits
■She has pulled out of the Oceania Championship in Noumea next month; ■She has pulled out of the World Junior Championships in July in Uzbekistan ■She has pulled out of the World Senior Championships in Turkmenisitan in November which is an Olympic qual
Fiji’s lone 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eileen Cikamatana is quitting the sport.
In a letter to SUNsports yesterday, Cikamatana stated she has decided to call it a day following her disappointment on the appointment of the new Weightlifting Fiji head coach Hossein Tavakoli.
But Weightlifting Fiji secretary Ritesh Ram said they would have an emergency board meeting on Sunday to sort things out once and for all.
The 18-year-old lifter expressed her disappointment from Noumea yesterday and has also confirmed she is pulling out from participating in the Oceania Championship next month, the World Junior Championships and the World Senior Championships which is an Olympic qualification event.
“I have decided to pull out of the Oceania Championships, the World Junior Championships and the World Senior Championships in November in Turkmenistan which is an Olympic qualification event,” she said.
“This is to stand in solidarity with the lifters from Levuka against the decision of Weightlifting Fiji president Atma Maharaj and a few executive board members to remove Joe Vueti from the position of national coach.
“Joe has held this position for many years, longer than the current crop of executive board members of Weightlifting Fiji. Joe was known as the national coach and he has been the father of weightlifting in Fiji for many years,” she said.
“Five weeks ago I was standing so proud and honoured on the stage of the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast. Having tears streaming down my face, looking at my Fijian flag raised with the national anthem booming.
“These are moments that very few people can experience. I was one of the lucky ones. I won a gold medal for my country Fiji. In addition to that I also won the Sportswoman of the Year a few weeks prior.” The 90kg lifter is returning home from the Oceania Weightlifting Institute to discuss her future with
her parents.
“I am going home to Levuka next week to discuss my future with my parents and my coach Joe Vueti. “There is no point continuing with the sport under the present set up,” Cikamatana added.
Weightlifting Fiji secretary Ritesh Ratiram said; “What concerns me most is the use of young athletes, who have only recently been introduced to the sport and wouldn’t know any better on the issues been raised.
“No club or federation should ever compromise their athletes by not providing them the opportunity to attend major international competitions,” Ratiram said. “In the meantime, we will have an emergency board meeting scheduled for this Sunday.” Feedback: anasilinir@fijisun.com.fj