Mini Games participation spikes up to 2,358

Athletes and officials bound for the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games in Palau rose to 2,358 from 2,254 reported a few months ago, according to the Games organizing committee recently.

Although 10 nations have scaled down their delegations to the quadrennial event, set from July 25 to Aug. 4 in Koror and nearby locales, the other 10 nations have increased the number of athletes and officials arriving for the Games.

The most dramatic increase came from Samoa, which jacked up its participation from the initial 138 athletes and officials to 251. Solomon Islands had the second biggest jump in terms of participants, as it updated its numbers from 77 to 149.

New Caledonia added 64 more athletes and officials to its contingent, which now stands at 190. Host Palau and Papua New Guinea also added 34 and 20 athletes and officials, boosting their delegations to 282 and 184, respectively.

The other island nations that added at least one athlete or official to their respective delegations include Kiribati (added 18, now 147), American Samoa (added 12, now 59), the CNMI (added six, now 157), Federated States of Micronesia (added one, now 166), and 2001 Mini Games host Norfolk Island (added one, now five).

Leading the teams that subtracted from their delegations is Tonga, which withdrew 79 athletes and officials to drop its total to 60 from a once hefty 139. Wallis & Futuna and Tuvalu also cut its contingents by 44 and 40, leaving them with delegations that now number 12 and 11, respectively.

Nauru slashed 32 from its delegation, which now only numbers 84. Republic of Marshall Islands also took a hit, trimming its contingent by 14 from 79 to 65. Vanuatu decided it could only accommodate 32 athletes and officials and had to turn away 14.

Other nations that downgraded their participation, albeit slightly, are Fiji (minus nine, now 171), Niue (minus nine, now 34), Cook Islands (minus three, now 53), and Guam (minus 3, now 246).

Delegation numbers are expected to change as participating countries and island nations have a tendency to scale up or down their delegations as the opening date for the Mini Games come approaches. Also Tahiti and Tokelau have yet to submit their estimated number of participants to Palau.

The CNMI, for instance, has scaled down its delegation from the projected 177 earlier to 151 before moving up again to 156.

. The discrepancy resulted from the Basketball Association of the Northern Mariana Islands deciding late least year not to field a men’s and women’s team to the Mini Games. The Northern Mariana Islands Track and Field Federation also opted to send only two athletes from the original eight.