{"id":342067,"date":"2021-04-13T06:04:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T20:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=342067"},"modified":"2021-04-13T06:04:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T20:04:40","slug":"inclusion-of-3-sports-in-2022-mini-games-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/inclusion-of-3-sports-in-2022-mini-games-approved\/","title":{"rendered":"Inclusion of 3 sports in 2022 Mini Games approved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pacific Games Council has approved the CNMI\u2019s request to include three more sports\u2014tennis, weightlifting, and va\u2019a (outrigger canoe)\u2014to the calendar of events for the 2022 Pacific Mini Games in the CNMI.<\/p>\n

Andrew Minogue, Pacific Games Council chief executive officer, confirmed the council\u2019s decision to approve the CNMI\u2019s request following the local government\u2019s financial commitment of $4 million in the staging of the quadrennial event from June 17 to 25 next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pacific Games Council is delighted to agree to the request of Gov. [Ralph DLG] Torres and [the Northern Marianas Sports Association] to add three sports back onto the program for the 2022 Pacific Mini Games in the CNMI. Tennis, va\u2019a, and weightlifting were removed after the devastation of Super Typhoon Yutu when all efforts were made to keep the Games alive with a reduced sports program. PGC is very grateful to Gov. Torres for finding the additional funds that will enable these three sports to be hosted once more,\u201d he said in an email to Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Minogue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Minogue said there will be 24 nations expected to send athletes in the 11th staging of the Pacific Mini Games. This includes the 22 full members of the Pacific Games Council\u2014American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, the CNMI, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna\u2014plus its two associate members\u2014Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The Pacific Games Council\u2019s decision to reinstate tennis, weightlifting, and va\u2019a to the calendar events of next year\u2019s Mini Games was welcomed by all three sports federations.<\/p>\n

Northern Marianas National Paddle Sports Federation president Justin Andrew said they are proud to be included in the CNMI\u2019s first-ever hosting of the Mini Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are super excited about this and the NMNPSF has started the leg to ensure successful hosting of va\u2019a in the Mini Games. It\u2019s the CNMI\u2019s first hosting of the Mini Games and we look forward to having regional athletes come and compete in our pristine lagoon. We are also excited about what the legacy of having va\u2019a in the Mini Games will leave for us…the future of the sport in the CNMI can only be brighter with this,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n

He also extended NMNPSF\u2019s gratitude to Torres and the Pacific Games Council for their decision to include va\u2019a in the Mini Games sports calendar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank our governor and his leadership for making this happen. We also thank the Pacific Games Council and everyone else for this opportunity to showcase our local paddling athletes and to host our paddling sisters and brothers from the Pacific region….it will be a memorable time for us all…….and our federation looks forward to the work ahead to ensure hosting of va\u2019a is successful,\u201d said Andrew.<\/p>\n

Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Federation president and many time CNMI National Tennis coach Jeff Race said he couldn\u2019t be more delighted in seeing his sport participate in the 2022 Mini Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s great to hear. We will put on a tennis event to remember. The core of our team from the 2019 Games will be returning and they should be even better than they were then. I believe that there are medals in the CNMI teams future at these Games,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CNMI Weightlifting president John Davis, for his part, said he\u2019s happy to find out that his sport is finally back in the Mini Games following a two-year wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all smiles and giggles after learning of the decision that weightlifting is back in the sports calendar of the 2020 Pacific Mini Games\u2026 It really means a great deal to our federation especially in the heels of our suspension from the IWF (International Weightlifting Federation) being lifted\u2026Now, we get to work and we will get it done to host a successful weightlifting event,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The CNMI originally backed out from hosting the then 2021 Pacific Mini Games following the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yutu in 2017. The CNMI was then persuaded to continue with its hosting duties following an agreement with the Pacific Games Council that it will be holding a scaled-down Mini Games instead with the budget decreasing from $8 million to $3 million.<\/p>\n

Before the re-inclusion of tennis, weightlifting, and va\u2019a, the events calendar for the 2022 Mini Games was made up of only athletics, baseball, badminton, beach volleyball, golf, and triathlon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pacific Games Council has approved the CNMI\u2019s request to include three more sports\u2014tennis, weightlifting, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":342109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[17845],"class_list":["post-342067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-mini-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342067","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}