{"id":371651,"date":"2022-07-01T06:04:12","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T20:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=371651"},"modified":"2022-07-01T06:04:12","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T20:04:12","slug":"weightlifter-netters-inspire-calamity-stricken-tonga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/weightlifter-netters-inspire-calamity-stricken-tonga\/","title":{"rendered":"Weightlifter, netters inspire calamity-stricken Tonga"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Tongan weightlifter Uaealesi Funaki swept the 96-kg class of the weightlifting competition of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022.(MARK RABAGO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-time gold medal winner in weightlifting, Uaealesi Funaki, and tennis bronze medalists Ana Taminika and Ela Vakaukamea are dedicating their success in the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 to the people of Tonga who earlier this year endured a volcanic eruption and the ensuing tsunami that it spawned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words. My people have been through a lot and just a little performance like that\u2026the Tonga people are a very proud people and it\u2019s something for them to cheer about\u2026[Calamities are] a part of life\u2026it is what it is\u2026\u201d said Funaki.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old swept the 96-kg class of the weightlifting competition of the Games after lifting 121 kgs in the snatch and 170 kg in the clean & jerk. His overall lift of 291 kg also gave him a third gold, plus the gold medal in the Oceania Weightlifting Championships, which ran concurrently with the Games.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very special moment. I wasn\u2019t expecting it but it\u2019s an honor to put out a performance like that for my country,\u201d said Funaki.
\n

<\/a>
Tonga\u2019s Ana Taminika and Ela Vakaukamea\u00a0won the bronze medal in the women\u2019s doubles competition as well as the team competition with Peata Fatai in the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022. (MARK RABAGO)
.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

The Auckland, New Zealand kitchen company worker was so dominant in the clean & jerk that he used his third and last lift just to show off by taking on his personal best 170 kg.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I did it] because there\u2019s nothing to lose and I was feeling it. [It\u2019s] probably the reason I was asked for drug testing immediately after,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Funaki also expressed his fondness of the host island and how good they were treated during their stay in the CNMI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Saipan. It\u2019s hot because it\u2019s winter in New Zealand right now. So it\u2019s a bit hot for me but I love it. It\u2019s a beautiful country with beautiful people. It\u2019s awesome. Accommodations are perfect and I even did a bit of sightseeing after going to the cliffs (Banzai Cliff and Suicide Cliff).\u201d<\/p>\n

His message to the Tongan people is \u201cIf you believe it, you can achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ana Taminika and Ela Vakaukamea, winning the bronze in the women\u2019s doubles competition of the tennis event was more than they could\u2019ve hoped for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt actually means a lot. We actually stay in New Zealand but getting a chance to represent our little nation is good. Bronze to us is better than nothing. As long as we\u2019re taking home a medal is all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two said they\u2019re dedicating the medal to all their supporters, the people of Tonga, the kingdom of Tonga, and to their friends and family in New Zealand as well.<\/p>\n

Taminika and Vakaukamea also liked the CNMI\u2019s tropical climate and said it\u2019s ideal for training all year long.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing and the weather is just outstanding. It\u2019s very nice and hot and very different from New Zealand where it\u2019s almost raining everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two have also seemed to adopt the hobbit\u2019s way of eating breakfast as Taminika and Vakaukamea readily admitted that they occasionally snuck for seconds in the morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just like to eat so get breakfast twice every day. Not sure if it\u2019s allowed but we just go in and out.\u201d
\nTaminika and Vakaukamea captured the women\u2019s doubles bronze after beating the CNMI\u2019s Asia Raulerson and Isabel Herras, 6-3, 6-0.<\/p>\n

The two also denied the CNMI pair a women\u2019s team bronze when they beat them, 6-3, 7-6 (9). The third member of the Tonga women\u2019s team is Peata Fatai.<\/p>\n

In all, Tonga finished 10th in the medal tally with four gold and three bronze medals.
\nThe other two medals were won by athletics\u2019 Ata Maama Tuutafaiva in the women\u2019s discus throw (gold) and the shotput (bronze).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three-time gold medal winner in weightlifting, Uaealesi Funaki, and tennis bronze medalists Ana Taminika and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":371643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-371651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371651","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\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}