Tsunami Saipan eyes 2014 Micro Games

As Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan concluded its 2010-2011 season, head coach Hiro Kimura challenged his wards to work hard in the coming years and aim for the 2014 Micronesian Games.

“In the next three years, we will be training and preparing swimmers for the 2014 Micronesian Games. We hope to send as many swimmers as we can in the Micro Games, so keep improving your times,” Kimura said during Tsunami Saipan’s recognition ceremony last Sunday at Marianas Resort.

The next Micro Games will be held in Pohnpei, which was awarded the hosting rights for the quadrennial meet during the Micronesian Games Council general assembly in Palau last year.

Swimming is one of the 13 sports Pohnpei is proposing to have in its calendar. Others on the list are basketball (men’s and women’s), indoor volleyball (men’s and women), baseball (men), softball, athletics, table tennis, weightlifting, wrestling, outrigger canoe, Micro All-Around, lawn tennis, and spearfishing. Pohnpei is also suggesting to have the Games in late July during the school break.

In the last edition of the Micro Games in Palau, Tsunami Saipan sent four swimmers to the event. They were Rezne Wong, Kai Staal, and brothers Kensuke and Shin Kimura. Hiro Kimura coached the men’s swimming team, which also included Saipan Swim Club’s Michael Moran, Andrew Kimball, and Junior Pamaran. SSC coach Michael Villagomez handled the women’s team, which had Grace Kimball, Victoria Chentsova, and Tamiko Winkfield as members.

The CNMI Swim Team dominated the Micronesian Games, winning 24 gold medals or more than half of the Commonwealth’s total gold medal haul (44).

Wong led the team’s medal surge, topping eight individual events (100m and 200m breaststroke, 50m, 100m, and 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m individual medley, and 5-kilometer open water swim. He took the silver in the 50m freestyle and anchored the CNMI’s sweep of the five relay races (200m and 400m medley relay and 100m, 400m, and 800m freestyle relay).

Staal delivered gold medals for the CNMI in the 50m and 200m freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke, and 50m breaststroke and won silver in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, and 5K open water swim.

Shin Kimura gave the Commonwealth two gold medals (400m and 1,500m freestyle) and one silver (200m freestyle), while younger brother Kensuke pocketed one gold (200m backstroke), four silvers (50m and 100m back and 200m and 400m IM), and one bronze (200m butterfly).

The four Micro Games veterans are expected to represent the CNMI anew in Pohnpei and can be joined by Tsunami Saipan’s promising talents, like outstanding swimmer of the year awardees Kaito Yanai and Lukas Kang and lone Tsunami female record-holder Angel Marie Tan.

“Do your best in the next seasons to come and I am sure you can make the grade in the Micro Games,” Hiro Kimura said.