Santos snatches 4 medals, Aleksenko wins bronze in 100m fly
Weightlifter Raymond Santos won the first gold medal for Team Marianas in the 2023 Pacific Games.
Santos topped the snatch category in the men’s 55-kg class in the weightlifting competition that started yesterday morning at the Maranatha Hall in Honiara, the Solomon Islands. His third lift of 96kg gave him the gold in the snatch category and he later added a bronze (112 kg in clean & jerk) and silver (208kg total weight lift) after completing his events.
The NMI weightlifter went on to bag four medals in Honiara, as he was also awarded the silver medal in 2023 Oceania Championships, which is being held simultaneously with the 2023 Pacific Games. Santos defeated eight other entries in the snatch category, including home favorite Philip Masi, who got the silver in the clean & jerk, and the Marshall Islands’ Mike Riklon—the winner in the total weight category and silver medalist in the snatch.
The weightlifting competition continues today with Leowell Cristobal seeing action for Team Marianas at 10am (9am Saipan Time. Weightlifting events are live streamed via https://youtube.com/@awfcomau.
Bronze for Aleksenko
Team Marianas went on to collect five medals yesterday, as swimmer Isaiah Aleksenko added a bronze after placing third in the 100m butterfly final race last night.
Aleksenko was one of the three NMI swimmers that advanced to the finals of their respective individual events after making the grade in the preliminary heats in the 2023 Pacific Games swimming competition that started Monday morning at the Aquatics Center.
Aleksenko posted the fastest time in the 100m butterfly prelims with his 55.09 seconds to lead seven other finalists. The finals of the 100m butterfly event along with seven other races took place at 6:30pm (5:30pm Saipan Time) yesterday, but official times were unavailable at press time.
In the 200m breaststroke prelims, Kouki Watanabe and Taiyo Akimaru also reached the finals after timing in at 2:33.65 and 2:42.66, respectively, in the preliminary heats.
In the 4x100m men’s freestyle relay, Aleksenko, Juhn Tenorio, Kean Pajarillaga, and Akimaru were ranked third in the prelims after clocking in at 3:40.51 to remain in the hunt for a medal finish.
The swimming competition will continue today with the preliminary heats for Events 9 to 16 scheduled to kick off at 9:30am (8:30am Saipan Time).
Andrew Nunez, Akimaru, and Watanabe will open Day 2 competition in the pool via the 50m breaststroke preliminary races. Maria Batallones and Nagi Tenorio are also entered in the same event in the women’s division. Moshe Sikkel, Kean Pajarillaga, Shoko Litulumar, Julia Jinang, Juhn Tenorio, and Kevin Guerrero will also compete in preliminary heats this morning.
Meanwhile, the NMI men’s tennis team bowed out of competition in the team event after losing its second pool play assignment to top-ranked Tahiti. Moris Villanueva fell to Heimanarii Lai San in the first singles match, 0-4. 3-5, while Colin Ramsey also dropped his game against Antoine Voisin, 1-4, 1-4. With the win already in the bag for Tahiti, the opposing teams opted not to play the doubles match.
With its four-medal half yesterday, Team Marianas made it to the Top 10 in the medal standings. Team Marianas’ participation in this year’s Pacific Games is supported by the Joeten Daidai Foundation, Triple J, Crowne Plaza Resort, IT&E, IP&E, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Mobil, Tan Holdings, and McDonald’s of Guam & Saipan. (PR)
Medal standing
