Banuve, Vollmer call for offshore competitions
Pacific sprint king Banuve Tabakaucoro and triple jumper Eugene Vollmer wants more overseas competition.
This was after they failed to meet the qualifying times/ distance during the National Easter Championship over the weekend.
The qualifying time for Tabakaucoro in the 100m is 10.5 seconds but he clocked 10.79.In the 200m, the qualifying time is 20.24s but he clocked 21.79s. Vollmer was to exceed 17metres but missed out with a distance of 15.24m
The Easter championship was the last local event recognized as a qualifier for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Both athletes hope to participate in qualifying events in Australia soon.
Speaking to SUNsports Tabakaucoro said he wants to compete overseas.
“I cannot be competing with high school kids and local runners because it won’t help me,” he said.
“Right now it’s about getting overseas, competing as much as I can to drop those times. I’m physically fit right now, everything is okay, and it’s just pretty much the competitions.
“It’s the competition that I’m concerned about I want to run with those who are faster than me.”
“Running with those sprinters overseas can help me reduce my time because they are fast and they can push me.” Meanwhile, Vollmer hopes they will travel overseas so they can compete at an Olympic qualifying event.
“We’ve yet to hear from FASANOC and our national federation as they have budgeted for it,” he said.
“So we are keeping our fingers crossed and if we do fly over to Australia we will try our best to qualify for the Olympic Games.”
If they are not able to travel overseas for the qualifying meets, Athletics Fiji will consider their points and ranking which will determine which athlete takes the universality spot.