Sprinter Tyrone Omar will soon embark in an exciting journey.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old student who broke the Micronesia Athletics Championships 200m record last December will be setting up his blocks at the starting line of the 60m race in the 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Moscow, Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s shorter\u2026I\u2019m better off the blocks,\u201d he said, citing that his strength in the 100m sprint, which he normally competes in, is the start off. \u201cI feel more comfortable in the start.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Championships will be held from March 10 to 12 featuring world-class athletes from the United States, Kenya, Japan, Sweden, Spain, and China, among the many others, and will serve as Omar\u2019s first off-island track and field meet that he really has prepared for. He competed as part of the relay team in the South Pacific Mini Games last year while in Palau, where he suited up to play baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never raced indoor,\u201d Omar said during an interview yesterday. \u201cI feel excited. Hopefully the experience in Russia will benefit [me] for the Micronesian Games.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Marianas High School student, who also competes in basketball, said he had no problem in keeping his focus on athletics and his trip to Russia as coaches for the other sports were also very supportive and were encouraging him to work harder in track and field.<\/p>\n
He added that his training since the MAC, where he won gold in the 200m sprint, silver in the 100m, and bronze in the medley relay, has been geared toward the 60m event he\u2019ll be competing in. He\u2019s been training six days a week under the guidance of coaches Elias Rangamar and Robin Sapong.<\/p>\n
Omar will be accompanied by Rangamar, who will also serve as coach for the Oceania delegation. The two are expected to leave for Moscow on March 8 or March 9.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will give Tyrone the exposure and experience in running with the best in the world,\u201d Rangamar said. \u201cHe\u2019s very explosive off the blocks, and I doubt if he\u2019ll win, but I\u2019ll guarantee he won\u2019t come in last. He\u2019s pretty quick so he\u2019ll do good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile running against the best in the world, he\u2019s going to watch, meet, and talk with some of the other athletes and hopefully pick up a few things,\u201d Rangamar added.<\/p>\n
The veteran coach echoed what Omar said about the meet prepping him for the Micro Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mental part is so important. He\u2019ll be competing against the best in the world, then come to compete here\u2026it\u2019s going to give him more confidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The meet is also the first indoors event Rangamar will take part in, and the coach is looking forward to the learning experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be able to see how indoor meets are run,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rangamar said several countries that are members of Oceania would not be able to take part in the Championships as they are currently prepping for the Commonwealth Games, which will also be held on March in Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n
He said about eight to nine athletes will make up the Oceania delegation.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sapong, who also serves as secretary general of Northern Marianas Athletics, said all is set for Omar and Rangamar\u2019s trip, confirming that entry visas are all taken cared off.<\/p>\n
He said the cost of Omar and Rangamar\u2019s trip would be fully shouldered by Oceania Athletics Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sprinter Tyrone Omar will soon embark in an exciting journey.<\/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-98291","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\/98291","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=98291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}