NMSA looking for Vanuatu chef de mission

White

The Northern Marianas Sports Association is hoping to appoint the CNMI’s chef de mission for the 2017 Vanuatu Pacific Mini Games in time for the scheduled heads of delegation meeting in Port Vila on Aug. 18 and 19.

NMSA president Michael White previously appointed Janet McCullough of sailing, but she begged off since she won’t be available for the 10th edition of the Mini Games set from Dec. 4 to 15.

The chef de mission would be in charge of arranging the delegation’s accommodations at the athletes village, the daily meals, transportation to and from the venues, and supervise all the team’s other needs.

NMSA is asking for possible names that would be the CNMI’s chef de mission or any volunteer that would step up to take on the huge task of being the Commonwealth’s point person in the scaled down version of the Pacific Games.

NMSA will also be shouldering all expenses of the Commonwealth’s chef de mission.

Pacific Games Council executive director Andrew Minogue is also looking forward to meet all chef de missions of the 22 member nations. He then reminded member federations of submitting their athletes’ entries on or before the Oct. 20 deadline.

Cook Islands, Fiji, Guam, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, and host Vanuatu have already started their work on their respective athletes’ entries since late submission is not permitted.

NMSA president White has reminded the four local federations—athletics, golf, Rugby 7s, and 3×3 basketball—that would be sending athletes to the Games to take note of and follow the Oct. 20 deadline.

“I will do my best to make sure that all of your athletes, coaches, and officials are registered. The more time you can give me, the more likely it is that it will be able to register everyone before the deadline,” said White.

In other news, athletes that are passport holders of the country they are representing must have a minimum of five years residency as per council regulations in all sports.

This does not include football, netball Rugby 7s, and weightlifting that follow eligibility rules of their respective international federations.

The council would also follow the relevant minimum age limits as applied by all international federations. Those who are turning 15 and 19 on Dec. 31, 2017 for athletics and judo, and boxing, respectively, while 14 at the opening day of competition for tennis.

Teams could enter two male and two female players that turns 18 on Dec. 31, 2017 for golf, while also using a maximum of two golfers in each division that are open age.

It will be 16 years old for the kata and 18 for kumite events of karate at the opening day of competition, while 18 for rugby at the start of the preliminary matches.