Solomon Island Kurukuru at the PacificAus Sports Futsal Series with Australia at The Centre Dural, NSW. Photo: Speed Media Images © All Rights Reserved
Solomon futsal to play in Bangkok
The Solomon Islands national futsal team has been invited to the Continental Futsal Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.
The event will form part of the Kurukuru's run-in to the Oceania Futsal Nations Cup in New Zealand in October.
The Thai tournament, being held in August, also features the Czech Republic, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Thailand.
Meanwhile, a 24-man national beach soccer training squad has been selected from the recent Solomon Islands Football Federation's Invitational Beach Soccer Championship.
The training side comprises young and experienced members of the Bilikiki team that will begin preparations for the Oceania Beach Soccer Nations Cup in late August.
Samoa's Ironman wins marathon in
Samoa's Darren Young, 53, has won the American Samoa international marathon.
Young is an Ironman, currently in training for the 2024 World Ironman Champs in Hawaii.
He has also been selected to represent Samoa in the Pacific Games this September, for both long-distance running and for triathlon.
"It was tough out there," Young said after completing the event.
"The legs were hurting. I'm grateful this 53-year-old body can still conquer 42 kilometres.
"It was great to be able to run here in beautiful American Samoa with athletes from many different countries," he said.
Fiji secures Hockey5s World Cup spots
The Fiji men's and women's teams have qualified for the 2024 Hockey5s World Cup.
The Fijian women's hockey team defeated Papua New Guinea 6-2 to claim third spot at the Oceania Hockey5s Cup in Australia.
Their men's team also won the third-place play-off by 6-1 over Solomon Islands to book a place at they qualified for the world meet.
They will join Australia and New Zealand in both men's and women's categories.
The top three teams from the Oceania meet gained automatic qualification to the world cup.
Micronesian Games help
The crew of the Australian Defence Force vessel Reliant says it is keen to support the Marshall Islands for the 2024 Micronesian Games, but only if requested by the Marshall Islands.
According to the Marshall Islands Journal, the ship has spent a few days in Port Majuro, offering tours to government officials and residents.
The twice-delayed Micronesian Games will now be held in June 2024 in Majuro, Marshall Islands.
The Micronesian Games Council announced in March it was delaying the 10th Games, scheduled to be held this month, due to the unreadiness of the host islands' sports facilities.
Weightlifting gold for Pacific in India
Fijian weightlifter Taniela Rainibogi claimed a gold medal at the 2023 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Delhi, India on Saturday.
The lifter snatched 163kg and 200kg in the clean and jerk for a new total of 263kg.
Nehemiah Elder had claimed Fiji's first medal at the championship with a silver, while Miriama Taletawa won a bronze in the 71kg Junior division.
For Samoa, Don Opeloge and Vaipava Nevo Ioane won two gold medals.
Opeloge claimed gold in the men's 102kg category with a total lift of 379kg - to set three new Commonwealth records and three new Oceania records in the process.
He defeated India's Singh Harcharan who had to settle for silver and Australia's Leon Vogeler-Schmidt who claimed bronze.
Opeloge lifted 179kg in the snatch and 207 kg in the clean-and-jerk.
Earlier on, Ioane claimed the first gold for team Samoa, winning the men's 67kg with a total lift of 280kg.
According to the International Olympic Committee, over 250 weightlifters from 20 countries competing for medals across junior, youth and senior events.
India dominated the five-day meet which concluded on July 16.
