{"id":370607,"date":"2022-06-17T06:04:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T20:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=370607"},"modified":"2022-06-17T06:04:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T20:04:13","slug":"eileen-comes-to-mini-games-with-no-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/eileen-comes-to-mini-games-with-no-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Eileen comes to Mini Games with no expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Eileen Cikamatana of Australia tries out the weightlifting equipment at the Marianas High School Gymnasium which is the site of the weightlifting competition for the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022.(MARK RABAGO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Australian weightlifter Eileen Cikamatana arrived on Saipan last Wednesday in time for today\u2019s opening ceremony for the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old gold medalist of the 2020 and 2019 International Weightlifting Federation World Cup and 2019 Grand Prix said she\u2019s coming to the Mini Games bereft of expectations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no expectations for me. My coach does all the calls and all I do is train and lift. So whatever he says goes. I don\u2019t put expectations in my mind during competition because that just doesn\u2019t work [for me]. If you put expectations on yourself and it doesn\u2019t go then you\u2019d only be upset with yourself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cikamatana said instead of giving yourself expectations you might as well focus on what you can do.\u00a0
\n\u201cBecause in training you train for this and then in competition you just give your best and everything just happens,\u201d she said with a wide grin.<\/p>\n

A first-timer in the CNMI, Cikamatana said she\u2019s totally amazed with the islands and even her accommodations at Pacific Islands Club Saipan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful place and a beautiful island even though the travel was a bit complicated, at least we made it. PIC Saipan is a beautiful place and I\u2019m enjoying my stay there and I got a good night\u2019s sleep last night especially since the training was at 9am the next day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cikamatana also had good things to say about the weightlifting venue at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the competition venue it\u2019s superb. I haven\u2019t seen such a setup and I\u2019m impressed\u2026Training gym was superb too, but the heat. I was telling my training partner you don\u2019t need a sauna to lose weight, you just train and you lose weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cikamatana, who will compete in the women\u2019s 87-kg division, has this inspiring piece of advice for everyone out there:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a dream don\u2019t give up too easily. If you have a dream, chase it until you grab it with your two hands. If there\u2019s an opportunity grab it straight away and don\u2019t waste it and regret it late because opportunity only comes once in a lifetime. If you believe you can do it, then do it. If you don\u2019t believe you can do it, then you won\u2019t be able to achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian weightlifter Eileen Cikamatana arrived on Saipan last Wednesday in time for today\u2019s opening ceremony…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":370597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[17845],"class_list":["post-370607","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\/370607","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=370607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}