Biggest ever weightlifting field

PORT MORESBY – The strongest weightlifting field in Pacific Games history will be on show in Port Moresby next month.

The Pacific Games event in Papua New Guinea is being held in conjunction with the Oceania Weightlifting Championships for the first time.

Among the lifters on show will be Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallists Dika Toua and Steven Kari from Papua New Guinea, and David Katoatau from Kiribati.

Samoa, Fiji and Nauru will also have Commonwealth medallists on show, as well as New Zealand and Australia, who are competing in the Pacific Games for the first time.

The General Secretary of the Oceania and Commonwealth Weightlifting Federations, Paul Coffa, says that’s helped to boost the entry numbers.

“We have 21 countries with about 260 lifters competing. That’s quite a large number really – the biggest entries we’ve ever had in this sport in the pacific – and of course the fact it is an Olympics qualification event has a lot to do with it, and we expect some excellent results.”