Sports codes in which athletes will represent the Cook Islands at this year’s Pacific Games in New Caledonia are expected to be confirmed by the Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee at the end of the month.

New Caledonia will host the 14th Pacific Games, formerly known as the South Pacific Games, from August 27 to September 10.

A maximum of 28 sports codes will be contested by athletes from across the Pacific, of which 12 codes are compulsory sports.

But CISNOC sports manager Robert Graham clarifies that even though 12 codes are compulsory – it doesn’t mean that athletes competing in these codes automatically qualify for the Pacific Games.

CISNOC have completed one-on-one meetings with national sports federations and plan to confirm which codes have qualified for the games at the end of the month.

Some of the codes to be contested at the Pacific Games will also second as world cup qualifiers.

Graham says that CISNOC will be taking this into consideration when they make their final decision as some codes that may not meet the CISNOC qualification criteria for the Pacific Games may be required by their international body to attend and compete at the games.

The 12 compulsory codes to be contested at the games are

Athletics

Basketball

Beach volleyball

Canoeing/kayaking

Soccer (FIFA 2014 Brazil World Cup qualifier)

Golf

Touch rugby

Swimming

Table tennis

Tennis (Pacific Oceania Davis Cup qualifier)

Volleyball

Weightlifting

The remaining 16 sports will come from archery, badminton, baseball, body building, boxing, cricket, cycling, handball, judo, karate, power lifting, sailing, shooting, squash, surfing, taekwondo and triathlon.

While CISNOC is still to confirm what sports the Cook Islands will compete in, codes such as oe vaka have already begun recruiting coaches and managers to prepare paddlers for the event.

Graham says they expect Team Cook Islands to be a large contingent as most of the codes on the list of sports for the games are team sports.

At the last Pacific Games in 2007 hosted by Samoa, Team Cook Islands won a total of 22 medals including 5 gold, 9 silver and 8 bronze medals.

George George will lead the team to New Caledonia as chef de mission and he along with executives from CISNOC are expected to visit New Caledonia some time early this year to check the venues and athlete villages.

A number of games venues have already been completed in New Caledonia and are currently being used as training facilities by Team New Caledonia athletes.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy is also expected to attend the opening ceremony of the Pacific Games in what will be his first visit to the Pacific.