With only two and a half weeks until the opening of the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games, the CNMI delegation and other island nations expected to compete are busy putting on the final touches in their preparation for the quadrennial event.<\/p>\n
One island nation not in the thick of preparations, however, is Tahiti. Known as a powerhouse in almost all events in the Games, French Polynesia reportedly pulled out of the competition due to the high cost of airfare from the country to Palau and back.<\/p>\n
The pullout was recently confirmed by Mini Games executive director Susan Ngirausui, who also added that aside from Tahiti, Tokelau would also not be sending a contingent to the Mini Games.<\/p>\n
Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association president Mike White expressed his disappointment on the pull out, citing that it affects the level of competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t feel good when any country says it can\u2019t participate in the Games,\u201d White said. \u201cFrom the CNMI\u2019s standpoint, this will probably improve our chances at medals in several sports. However, we have to remember that, while medals are the measure of our success against other countries, and medals are what we strive for, a medal means more when we win it against the best competition. That\u2019s part of sportsmanship, which to me is more important than medals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m personally disappointed because Tahiti is always strong in every sport, and because the principal reason they couldn\u2019t come\u2014the high cost of the trip\u2014is the same reason that often prevents us from competing, or limits us when we do,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Expressing similar thoughts was Saipan Swim Club coach Michael Stewart, who explained that Tahiti\u2019s absence lessens the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I was a bit disappointed that Tahiti was not coming to this year\u2019s Mini Games,\u201d he said. \u201cI have always believed that in order to become as good as you can, you must rise and surpass the level of competition put before you. If not having Tahiti lessens the competition, then that lessen the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart, however, stressed that the NMI swim team is ready to deal with the challenges facing them at the Mini Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, we deal with what we are up against,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are preparing to swim at our best, and we will just have to see how these young kids stack up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The news of the pullout also came as a big surprise to Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association president Steve Lim, who like White, said Tahiti\u2019s absence opens up possibilities for the NMI table tennis team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a bit of a shocker to me,\u201d he said, adding that Tahiti ranks among the top teams in the sport along with Fiji and New Caledonia. \u201cTahiti, in my opinion, is one of the better-organized and funded South Pacific competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 2001 Norfolk Island South Pacific Mini Games, Tahiti finished second with 22 gold medals, and had a total medal haul of 45\u2014third best among 20 countries.<\/p>\n
The Palau Mini Games opens on July 25 and concludes on Aug. 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With only two and a half weeks until the opening of the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games, the CNMI delegation and other island nations expected to compete are busy putting on the final touches in their preparation for the quadrennial event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91889","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}