Tonga wants to be taken seriously at Winter Olympics

TONGA – The Royal Tonga Ski Federation has high hopes for Winter Olympic success after last month’s admission to the International Ski Federation in Switzerland.

The Secretary-General of Tonga’s federation Leafa Mataele Wawryk said the achievement would mean there could be more opportunities for people to represent the kingdom at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

At the 2014 Sochi Games, Bruno Banani competed in the Luge, becoming the first Tongan to participate in the Winter Olympics.

Overseas-based Tongans Makeleta Piukala, Kasete Naufahu Skeen, Reinhard Langer and Dyan Wackerbauer are currently preparing to compete in upcoming winter season competitions and have the 2018 Games in their sights.

Leafa Mataele Wawryk said the recent developments show that Tongans could do anything they set their hearts to.

“The biggest achievement for us here is to see our young athletes getting ready to compete at an international level,” she said.

Wawryk wants competitors to be more than just a novel story now that Tonga had been admitted to the International Ski Federation.

She said the current crop of athletes were serious about their aspirations.

“ We do not want this to be an overnighter, we do not want to be called the novelty team,” Wawryk said.

“We want to be the team that is going to compete to win medals. We want people to take us seriously and we want everywhere in the world to respect us. I believe we have some athletes that can win medals. They can. Just to see, even our young 17 year old Reinhard get on the slopes, it is absolutely crazy to think we can do this, but we can.”

Tonga is the third Pacific nation to have been admitted to the International Ski Federation, joining American Samoa and Fiji.

However Wawryk said both those nations had stalled in their efforts in recent years and the Tongan Federation hoped to revive enthusiasm for the Winter Games and sports.

She said although travelling to New Zealand for training may be a necessity, it was hoped that the introduction of roller skiing in Tonga could be used as a step towards greater participation.

- RNZI