The Papua New Guinea Swimming Inc. (PNGSI) has named a young team for the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands from November 19 to December 2.
President of PNGSI, Elizabeth Wells says the Swim Team comprises of young swimmers with the inclusion of only three swimmers from the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.
“They are Georgia-Leigh Vele, Josh Tarere and Holly John, for the rest of the relatively young team this will be their first time to compete in a Pacific Games environment. All are members of the BSP National Target Excellence Squad,” said Wells.
“As we move closer to representing PNG at these Games our swimmers are continuing to rejuvenate their commitment and motivation to their preparations ahead in all areas. These including, training, nutrition, mental and emotional training as it has already been a big year of competition for our swimmers both in country and internationally.”
She says swimming is an exceptionally demanding sport in terms of the time involved in both pool and dryland training and top performances can be consistently achieved only through a more holistic, complete approach – a physical, mental and emotional preparation.
PNGSI have prepared well its swimmers with international lead up competitions;
• World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka, Japan in July
• Commonwealth Youth Games Trinidad and Tobago in August 2023 and
• Nationally the FedEx National Swimming Championships held in September.
“To improve and continue to excel in the next few weeks leading up to the Games is an exciting time for our swimmers and coach. The specific speed phase the swimmers are now training in, highlights the competitive skills needed to race fast on competition day incorporating technique, speed and sprint workouts.
“Strength, speed and power are the key elements. The swimmers will enter the taper phase early November prior to travelling.”
The PNG Swim Team:
Male swimmers:
Thomas Chen Age: 18 years old
Felix Devlin Age: 23 years old
Holly John Age: 26 years old
Josh Tarere Age: 23 years old
Mathew Vali Age: 21 years old
Female swimmers:
Abigail Ai Tom Age: 14 years old
Joanna Chen Age: 15 years old
Jhnayali Tokome-Garap Age: 14 years old
Allana Kirarock Age: 14 years old
Rhannah Makail Age 15 years old
Georgia-Leigh Vele Age 24 years old
Team Officials:
• Manager: Beatrice Geita
• Coach Susan Babao
• Coach Judith Meauri