It’s day one of the Coca-Cola Games, with athletes, families and fans already making their way to the HFC Bank Stadium.
The glamours event of the games, which is the 100-meter finals will be run today and all eyes will be on who is the fastest schoolboy and girl.
Current senior boys 100 meters record holder Banuve Tabakaucoro says for the first time he can’t predict who will win the clear top bet for the blue ribbon event this year.
Tabakaucoro, who set the record of 10.43 seconds in 2011 notes while the qualifying standards are questionable, it means that the competition will be tight.
He adds the athletes have clocked some interesting times this year in their respective zone meets, and apart from the favourites, the minnows also pose a threat.
“Competition is always going to be tough but yeah my take this year is just that athletes have geared up pretty well, they’ve trained really well this year and a lot of athletes have doing off-season programs so that’s encouraging to see and a lot of them have taken the initiative to get out there and train, so it’s great to see. Also, we will be seeing some really good competition coming from the Maritime Zones as well.”
The former Pacific sprint king adds he is particularly looking forward to the girls’ 100 meters, as they have made a strong impression during the weeks of training leading up to the games.
Former girls champion, Sisilia Seavula says the competition has leveled up and the country has a good talent pool.
“The athletes have prepared well and seeing the results from the last Pacific Games they did really well for a really young team they proved a lot of critics wrong saying they were too young and the experience wasn’t there but I’m quite confident that they will be able to do us proud.”
Seavula adds coaches have done a great job in moulding athletes in the country and she looks forward to the rising stars putting Fiji back on the regional map.
32 gold medals will be up for grabs today, 16 on the tracks, and the same in the field events.
On tracks apart from 100m, the 1500m finals will also be run.
Over 2600 athletes from across the country will take part over three days.
You can watch the coverage LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on FBC Sports from 8.30am to 6pm.