Medals decided at South Pacific Games

by Katrina Jocumsen on 10 Sep 2007 Samoa's sailing team accomplished a first on Thursday at Mulifanua earning a two team bronze medals and an individual bronze medal as the sailors competed to the backdrop of beautiful Savai'i.

These are the first medals ever won by Samoa's Sailing team in any major international competition. Entering Thursday's competition Samoa's Luana Milroy was holding onto a two point lead over New Caldonia's Paiscillia Poaniewa, while New Caldonia's Matthew Frei and Michael Borde battled with each other to grab the gold in the Standard Laser.

The Radial Lasers began the first of three laps in the morning and immediately the drama matched the gravity of situation for Poaniewa and Milroy. As Luana Milroy turned the windward mark she found herself at a disadvantage as she capsized, but eventually fought her way back to fourth place. Unfortunately for Milroy, Poaniewa's teammate Cawle Dabin beat her out for third place in the medal race by inches.

In the Standard Lasers, Matthew Frei and Michael Borde of New Caldonia held on to the Gold and Silver as Jesse Besson took the Bronze. Samoa's Blake Milroy battled to keep his position in fourth but lost as a result of medal race tie breaker rule, giving fourth to his opponent despite better finishes in the overall race results.

New Caldonia took Gold in the overall team results for the Lasers with Tahiti taking the Silver. Samoa took team Bronze in both the Radial and Standard Laser classes. At the end of the days events, Samoa walked away with not only it's first medal in international competition but three bronze medals.

Day Seven - Clear Skies and more medals

Morning brought overcast skies and the prospect of continuing the drab, wet and windless weather from Monday, but as the hours progressed, the clouds dispersed and winds reached 18 knots giving the competitors to something to smile about after rains stole away the wind on Monday. The days events started with the first half of the Standard Laser class followed by the Hobie class and then the second half of the Laser class. The winds were also favourable enough to allow one run with the Radial Lasers as a threatening storm front veered south away from the competition area.

In the Hobie class, New Caldonia's dominance faltered slightly as it's second team (Chichennariar Rudolph and Chazdarelly Maxine) came in fifth and sixth in the days races. This gave Tahiti's team (Teiva Veronique and Moana le Calvi) the opportunity they needed to squeeze into second place with third place finishes for both of the day's races. New Caldonia came away with the gold and bronze medals while Tahiti took the silver medal. The surprise of the day came during the medal round (twelfth and final race) when Fiji's team, skipper Grahame Southweik and 14-year old crewmate Kevenii Natadra, took advantage of the light winds and finished first after consistently finishing in the middle of the pack throughout the competition.

In the Standard Laser class, New Caldonia's Borde Michael and Feri Malheiu took gold and silver medals, soundly defeating all other opponents by comfortable distances. Borde Michael finished first in all the races minus a bad start in the first race. Teammate Malheiu followed close with 10 overall points behind Michael's nine. Tahiti's Jessee Besson took the bronze finishing with 15 overall points.

Luana Milroy of Samoa remained in contention for the Silver as she finished ahead of Paiscillia Poaniewa of New Caldonia, the two finishing fourth and fifth in the days single Radial race. The two sit at second and third in the standings with 31 and 33 points while Cawle Dabin, Poaniewa's teammate, sits on top with a comfortable point total of 15 points. Thursday's medal race will be a decisive factor in determining which will receive the Silver or Bronze medals.

No racing will take place on Wednesday and medal races for all Laser classes will take place on Thursday with medal presentations takingn place at 4PM.

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