{"id":261178,"date":"2017-09-27T06:06:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T20:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=261178"},"modified":"2017-09-27T06:06:50","modified_gmt":"2017-09-26T20:06:50","slug":"torres-better-facilities-21-mini-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/torres-better-facilities-21-mini-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Torres: Better facilities for \u201821 Mini Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_261181\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-261181\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Torres-pix.jpg\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-261181\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oleai track oval\u2019s new rubber surface is waiting for the International Association of Athletics Federations certification after the project was completed early this year. The track is among the sports facilities that Gov. Ralph DLG Torres wants to improve as Saipan prepares to host the 2021 Pacific Mini Games. (Jon Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is looking to put more funding into Saipan\u2019s sports facilities, especially now that the CNMI is busy preparing for its hosting of the 2021 Pacific Mini Games.<\/p>\n<p>Torres said he would continue to discuss the funding issue with some administration officials and the CNMI\u2019s sports leaders that include the Northern Marianas Sports Association, which now oversees the maintenance and operations of the Oleai Sports Complex.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a new track, which was better from the old one. We do have the infrastructure,  but I would like to see better facilities here. I\u2019m going to look at other priorities as we prepare to host the [Mini] Games in 2021,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n<p>The resurfacing of the track oval of the Oleai Sports Complex was just completed early this year with the funds for the project coming from the Community Development Block Grant from the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. The Oleai track hosted the Micronesian Athletics Championship  in 2005 and the Oceania Athletics Championship in 2008. Saipan will again host the MAC next year. The sports complex was also the main hub of the 6th Micronesian Games held in 2006.  The other facilities at the sports complex\u2014the  Miguel Basa Pangelinan softball field and the Gilbert C. Ada gymnasium\u2014were damaged during Typhoon Soudelor in 2015 and will be undergoing renovations, too.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Torres said he would attend the closing ceremonies of the 10th Pacific Mini Games in Port Vila, Vanuatu  on Dec. 15.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Press secretary] Kevin [Bautista] and I are working on it and we do have a reservation for me to attend. I actually look forward to receiving the [Mini] Games\u2019 flag,\u201d said Torres, who was still a senator when the Commonwealth earned the rights to host the quadrennial sporting event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe won the bid and we\u2019re ready to host the [Mini] Games here. We are planning to go and attend the closing ceremonies with other [sports] officials,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The CNMI will be participating in athletics, rugby 7s, weightlifting, 3&#215;3 basketball, and golf events in this year\u2019s Mini Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is looking to put more funding into Saipan\u2019s sports facilities, especially&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":261181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26,18470,490,2820],"class_list":["post-261178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-cnmi","tag-micronesian-athletics-championship","tag-oleai-sports-complex","tag-pacific-mini-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}