Track and field are underway at the Pacific Games with pole vault, high jump, steeple chase, distance running and 100m sprints taking place on Monday at Solomon Islands national stadium in Honiara. 27 November 2023 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koroi Hawkins
New Caledonia looks set to claim another Pacific Games overall title as they consolidated their lead at the top of the medal tally.
The French territory has won 13 out of the last 16 editions of the Games, with Papua New Guinea winning twice (1991, 2015) and Fiji once (1963 - inaugural).
They lead in Honiara with 62 gold medals and a total haul of 142 - currently standing at 33 gold medals clear of second placed Australia, who have 29, and 35 gold medals clear off Samoa in third place.
Another French territory Tahiti is on fourth place with 25 gold medals while Fiji has 12 gold to show for what they have achieved so far.
Niue and Tokelau are the only countries yet to win any medals at the Games.
Tonga leads netball campaign with two wins
The Tongan Tala netball team lead the netball competition at the 2023 Pacific Games with two wins from two games as the sport rolled off matches in Honiara on Monday.
The world number eight thrashed Niue 90-17 in the morning before holding off a Papua New Guinea comeback in their second game on Monday afternoon to win 62-54.
Goal-shooter Unique Palavi led the Friendly Islanders scoring, dominating in the circles in both matches.
Tonga Netball chief executive officer Salote Sisifa said the wins was what they needed to kick start their campaign for gold at the Games.
"Grateful to the team for the wins. They played their hearts out there and to close the day with two wins is more than we can ask for," she said.
The Fiji Pearls thrashed hosts Solomon Islands 90 – 25 in their opening Pacific Games match at Friendship Hall in Honiara. 27 November 2023 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koroi Hawkins
Tonga finished with a silver at the 2019 Pacific Games behind Cook Islands.
The Cook Islanders started their title defense with a strong performance, thrashing Vanuatu 84 -13 in their opener.
In Pool B the Fiji Pearls annihilated a spirited host side 90-25.
Local fans did not worry about the scoresheet as they cheered each and every point the team managed to net.
Samoa also started well with a big win over Norfolk Islands 73-14.
All matches in Honiara contribute to the World Netball rankings for participating teams.
Competition continues on Tuesday.
Tongan Tala after the game against Niue on Monday, 27 November 2023. Photo: Tonga Netball
Siapo wins men's 100m ambulant
New Caledonia's Felician Siapo has won the gold medal in the men's 100-metres ambulant at the Pacific Games.
He won bronze in the event four years earlier.
In the ambulant category, athletes' results are measured against their classification to determine their final placing percentage, with a higher percentage closer to 100 indicating a better ranking.
Siapo clocked a time of 11.93 seconds and secured a placing percentage of 92.20 percent based on his F44 classification.
PNG's Steven Abraham got the silver - the same result he got four years ago - and New Caledonia's Tom Lulait was third.
The first heat of the men's 100m sprint at the 17th Pacific Games in Solomon Islands. 27 November 2023 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koroi Hawkins
Aussie leads heptathlon for women
Australia's Mia Scerri is leading the women's heptathlon competition after Monday's opening events.
Scerri won the 100m hurdles, high jump and shot-put events and placed second in the 200m sprint and is on 3,430 points.
In second place is Papua New Guinea's Edna Boafob who beat Scerri in the 200m sprint, placed second in high jump and shotput and placed third in the 100m hurdles. She is on 2,899 points.
Right on her tail is French Polynesia's Timeri Lamorelle, who totalled 2,538 points. She came second in the 100m hurdles, placed third in both shot put and high jump but dropped to 5th in the 200m sprint.
The women's heptathlon continues this afternoon (Tuesday) at the National Stadium in Honiara with long jump up first at 3pm local time, followed by Javelin at 4.15pm and the 800m race at 6.30pm.
Karo leads men's in decathlon
Papua New Guinea's Iga Karo leads the men's decathlon event with 3,760 points after Monday's first round of events.
At the halfway point Karo has come first in all events except for shotput where he finished third.
New Zealand's Ian Thorpe tallied 3,299 points in second place after finishing second in four events and fourth in one.
In at third place is French Polynesia's Timona Poareu whose had a mix bag of results with his best event being shot put in which he got first place. He has a total of 3,187 points so far.
Decathlon covers all 10 track and field events over two days - the order of the first five events contested on day one is 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 metres.
Today's events are 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1500m
Karan wins 10,000 gold
Fiji's Pacific Mini Games gold medalist, Yeshnil Karan, claimed the old in the men's 10,000m event.
He clocked an impressive time of 32 minutes 32.30 seconds.
Karan pulled away from the pack right from the opening rounds and kept his momentum going until the final dash home.
But he was not able to break the Games record of 30:30:96s set by former New Caledonian runner Alain Lazare at the 1989 South Pacific Mini Games in Nukualofa, Tonga.
Guam's Hugh Kent won silver in a time of 33:48:60s.
Kent overtook the pack as he tried to stick close to Karan.
He told the Pacific Games News Service that he was excited to win silver.
"I'm very excited right now even though I can't feel anything, I'm very numb after the race. I did not expect to have received the results and win silver tonight," he said.
"Overall, I wasn't thinking of my pace and what placement I was at. My idea was just to stick with the others, and once I saw they settled down, and I felt comfortable only then would I go. I was waiting for Karan to come over and overlap me, and from there I had someone to stick with in pace and it was very motivating."
The 17-year-old also said winning silver in his first ever Pacific Games debut is a confidence-boosting start to his remaining events at Sol2023.
"This is my first Pacific Games, and I don't usually run on a track for 10k. However, this win has really boosted my confidence and motivated me to win more medals in my upcoming races. I'm participating in the 5000 meters, which is usually what I'm comfortable in, and the half marathon."
The bronze went to Papua New Guinea's Dilu Goiye Bob, with a time of 33:57.08s.
Karan, middle, at the podium with his gold flanked by his closest rivals. 27 November 2023 Photo: Team Fiji
Tan takes out women's 5,000m
Tania Tan of the Northern Mariana Islands has taken gold in the women's 5000m at the Pacific Games.
She ran a time of 18 minutes and 8.69 seconds in the final.
This was about 30 seconds ahead of second-placed Scholastica Herman of Papua New Guinea.
New Caledonia's Deborah Kaboer was third.
Melanesians dominate boxing
Papua New Guinea and hosts Solomon Islands dominated day one of boxing.
Pacific Games Media reported that PNG claimed five wins out of the 23 held at the Friendship Hall.
The Solomon Islands team who won four, Samoa three, while New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Tonga won two each.
Tahiti, Nauru and Niue claimed a win each in the ring on Monday.
In the women's competition two-time Australian boxing champion, Tyla McDonald proved too strong for her Solomon Islands opponent, Tracy Koputu in the Women's 60kg Lightweight opener.
PNG's dominance then followed with Allen Oaike (Featherweight 57kg), Jamie Chang (Bantamweight 54kg), Bid Inoino (Bantamweight 54kg) and Kantie Oaike (Light Flyweight 46-48kg) all winning their respective quarterfinal bouts to proceed to the semi-finals.
Kendu Steven all but wrapped up PNG's opening day ring dominance by defeating hometown favourite John Isaiah Hairekoi in a tightly contested Middleweight bout to close proceedings on Monday.
Hosts, Solomon Islands also succeeded on the night with four of their boxers earning victories - two of which saw them face off against their fellow countrymen to proceed to the next phase of the competition.
Phineus Pitakoe defeated countrymen Mason Norman to proceed to the semi-finals of the Light Flyweight semis, Joshua Fafale O'oku saw off Petsy Seka in the round of 16 Welterweight bout, Osward Talaka defeated PNG's Wani Palme in their Middleweight round of 16 bout, and crowd favourite Maximillian Makana defeated PNG's Floyed Kunnopi to wrap up victories for the hosts.
Boxing round of 16 - Nauru’s Gaissa Jones (blue) slips a jab from Samoa’s Jason Wulf. Gaissa won the 67Kg bout 3-0 by split decision. Friendship Hall, Honiara, 27 November 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koroi Hawkins
Shot put toppers
Samoa, Tonga and New Caledonia were the top three at the women's 4kg shot put at the Pacific Games.
Samoa's Nu'u Tuilefano took the gold with a best throw of 17.34 metres.
Ataama Tu'uatafaiva of Tonga threw 16.37m for silver.
Bronze went to Lesly Filituulaga from New Caledonia, with a best throw of 14.50m.
Competition continues
Games competition continues until Saturday, with the closing ceremonies scheduled for Sunday in Honiara.
Football continues the all-important semi-finals in the men's competition. New Caledonia will take on Vanuatu followed by Fiji and the Solomon Islands.
In the women's, Tahiti face Vanuatu followed by Solomon Islands against Tonga in the playoff matches.
Touch rugby, tennis, sailing, boxing, powerlifting and taekwondo will also see competition continuing on Tuesday.
Pacific Games medal tally at the end of competition on Monday, 27 November 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific