Sport: Samoa surge into 2nd on Pacific Games medal table

Samoa has surged into second place on the Pacific Games medal table after winning nine gold medals on Friday.

The host nation doubled their overall haul to 18 in five days, but it's still New Caledonia who continue to lead the way in Apia.

Weightlifters Don Opeloge and Leotina Petelo won three gold medals apiece on home soil, while also making a clean sweep of the Oceania and Commonwealth titles.

Jack Opeloge won gold, silver and bronze in the men's 81kg division, while Lauren Sale won her second gold medal in the pool.

Jil Walter teamed up with her dad Muaausa Joseph Walter to win gold for Samoa in the mixed team recurve, while New Caledonia, Fiji and Tahiti shared the other five gold medals on the final day of archery.

New Caledonia also collected four more gold medals on the penultimate night of swimming finals and won the mixed doubles in table tennis to bring their total haul to 28 gold, 20 silver and 16 bronze medals.

Tahiti remain in third place after winning two more gold medals in Va'a while Rahiti De Vos shattered the previous mens 1500m freestyle record by exactly 10 seconds.

The Australian men won beach volleyball gold on their Pacific Games debut, while Vanuatu secured their second gold medal of the week in the women's event.

The Northern Marianas won gold in the men's tennis team event to claim their first medal of any colour in Apia, with Papua New Guinea taking out the women's competition.

Australia's Kaitlyn Fassina also added three gold medals in the women's 87kg weightlifting division, with Cameron McTaggart added two gold medals to the New Zealand tally.

With no competition on Sunday, Saturday is shaping up as a busy one, with medals due to be dished out in cricket, rugby sevens, badminton, golf, lawn bowls, sailing, swimming, table tennis, weightlifting and Va'a.