Team Fiji bags nine gold

AS the curtains closed down at the Apia Park Stadium for the athletics competition for the 2019 Pacific Games, Team Fiji bagged a total of nine gold medals – two more gold medals from the 2015 games in Papua New Guinea.

Walking away with three gold medals and in fact the only athlete to have won three golds for Fiji at the Samoa games, Pacific sprint king Banuve Tabakaucoro said it was all in the name of the competition.

“I just came out here to perform, the three medals is a bonus and it just shows that the training program is working and our development in Fiji is also working,” Tabakaucoro said.

The Bau bullet who anchored the 4x100m men’s team to victory last night said the gold medal win was also for his relay team members.

“A couple of these boys have not stood on the podium before and I wanted to give them a chance to get out here today,” Tabakaucoro said.

“We didn’t want to come in second, we didn’t want to come in third, I want to put them in the middle (podium),” he said.

As always the 26-year-old from Lomanikoro, Bau Island thanked God and his family for the neverending support.

“I would like to thank God for giving me the strength to come out here and perform,” Tabakaucoro said.

“I would like to thank my family at home, my wife and two boys who are my source of strength, my friends, the rest of my family who have been supporting me all the way not forgetting the Fiji coaches, Albert Miller Sr, Bola Tafo’ou and my strength and conditioning coach Henry Elder,” he said.

“Thank you so much, this medal is for you and for everybody else in Fiji.”

Other medallists:

■ Naibili Vatunisolo – gold in the women shot put ambulant

■ Eugene Vollmer – gold in the men’s triple jump

■ Mustafa Fall – gold in the men’s shot put

■ 4x100m women – gold

■ Ana Kaloucava – silver in the 400m women’s hurdles