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Mullins eyes future hosting duties for Saipan
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Posted on Jan 02 2009
The successful staging of the 2008 Oceania Championships and Grand Prix has the head of the Oceania Athletics Association looking again at Saipan as a possible host for future track and field events.
“The Championships were a great event for the Oceania area with the athletes of Micronesia enjoying a successful area championships. The organization of the event was unsurpassed, by both the local organizing committee and the CNMI government. There is no doubt that the host of the next Championships will have to go a long way to match the superb event we witnessed on Saipan. Oceania Athletics Association looks forward to returning to Saipan in the near future for many more athletics events,” said OAA executive director Yvonne Mullins in a recent email to the Saipan Tribune.
Last year’s area championships and Grand Prix attracted more than 250 athletes from 19 nations in the Pacific. It was held from June 23 to 28, mostly at the Oleai Track and Field. The Laolao Bay Golf Resort was also utilized for the cross country event.
New Zealand topped the medal standings with 17 gold medals to go along with its 10 silver and six bronze.
Fiji leapfrogged past proverbial runner-up Australia in the medal standings, winding up with 11 gold medals as well eight silver and three bronze.
Samoa was another country that finished ahead of powerhouse Australia, finishing with 10 gold, three silver, and a bronze.
Australia, meanwhile, closed out the area championships with nine gold, 11 silver, and five bronze medals to its name.
Papua New Guinea came away with nine gold, six silver, and five bronze medals, while New Caledonia finished with a haul of four gold, three silver, and two bronze medals.
Making up the rest of the medal standings were Guam (4 gold, 6 silver, and 13 bronze), Tahiti (4-6-5), Cook Islands (2-3-5), Tonga (1-7-5), CNMI (1-6-9), Solomon Islands (1-2-2), Kiribati (1-1-2), Norfolk Islands (1-0-1), Palau (one silver), Vanuatu (two bronze), and Nauru (one bronze).
