Maria Batallones made it to the finals of the women’s 100m breaststroke on Thursday morning.
HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Northern Marianas Sports Association) — NMI swimmers continue to impress in the 2023 Pacific Games, as they raced in the penultimate day of the swimming competitions on Thursday in Honiara, the Solomon Islands.
After giving the NMI one gold medal (Isaiah Aleksenko’s first place finish in the 200m butterfly) and two bronzes (Aleksenko’s 100m butterfly and the men’s team’s 4x200m freestyle relay), the NMI swimmers boosted their chances for a podium finish after four reached the finals of their respective events following Thursday morning’s preliminary heats.
Aleksenko joined the 50m butterfly and timed in at 25.29 seconds to advance to the finals. He was fourth overall behind New Caledonia’s Ethan Dumesnil (24.76 seconds), Cook Islands’ Wesley Roberts (24.86 seconds), and Fiji’s Hansel McCaig (24.99 seconds). Aleksenko’s time in the qualifying heat crushed his personal best of 25.31 seconds and defeated the times of 22 other swimmers. Kevin Guerrero Jr. and Michael Miller joined the same event and clocked in at 26.69 seconds and 31.40 seconds, respectively.
Besides Aleksenko, other finalists for the NMI after Day 4 of the qualifying heats were Kouki Watanabe, Maria Batallones, and Taiyo Akimaru. Watanabe and Akimaru raced in the 100m breaststroke event and moved into the finals after recording 1:11.93 and 1:12.25, respectively. Batallones also competed in the 100m breaststroke and marked 1:21.11 to march into the finale. All finals events on Day 4 of the swim competitions took place Thursday night and results of the races were unavailable at press time.
Golf
For their part, NMI golfers completed the Round 2 play at the Honiara Golf Club yesterday.
Franco Santos matched his Day 1 output after firing a 5-over 77 in the second round. Joe “Kamikaze” also duplicated his opening day score of 14-over 86, while Benjamin Jones Jr. had another 10-over 82. Joe Sasamoto shot a 10-over 82, one stroke behind his opening round of 9-over 81 in the first round. Zhimin Jin had a pair of 79s in the first two rounds.
The NMI golfers are 15 strokes behind for the medal finish, and has a lot of catching up to do in the last two rounds of competitions, team manager/coach Marco Peter said.
Tennis
In tennis, Moris Villanueva a got a free ride to the third round of the men’s singles event after his opponent, No. 12 seed Marvin Soonalole, withdrew due to injury. Villanueva will next face No. 2 seed Reynald Taaroa of Tahiti for a quarterfinals berth. Colin Ramsey and June Yu, who also won their opener, will play their second-round match today. The three NMI players along with Nason Wessel will also begin their bid in the men’s doubles event Friday.
Weightlifting
In weightlifting, Angel San Nicolas joined the 96kg class competition and finished sixth in snatch (121kg), fifth in clean & jerk (157kg), and seventh in total (276kg).
In the women’s 81kg, Antonette Labausa nearly made it to the podium after finishing fourth in the snatch (76kg). The bronze medalist, Fiji’s Makare Tabanavanua, posted 77kg. In the clean & jerk, Labausa logged 93, which was also good for fourth.
Football
In football, the NMI Men’s National Team will complete its pool play assignment Friday when it takes on Tahiti at 6 p.m.
For the medal tally, pending the results of the finals events in swimming Thursday night, Team Marianas is ranked at No. 11 with its 2 gold medals, 1 silver, and 4 bronzes. Australia has overtaken New Caledonia for the lead with the Land Down Under representatives collecting 23 golds against the French territory’s 22.
“Strong performances today in tennis, golf, weightlifting and swimming,” Chef de Mission Nick Gross said. “On behalf of the team, we’re thankful this Thanksgiving holiday for the opportunity to be at the Games and represent the NMI! Thank you all for your continued support and guidance to grow and develop athletic opportunities for the people of the Commonwealth!”
Team Marianas’ participation in this year’s Pacific Games is supported by the Joeten Daidai Foundation, Triple J, Crowne Plaza Resort, IT&E, IP&E, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Mobil, Tan Holdings, and McDonald’s.
Moris Villanueva advances to the third round of the men’s singles event.
The NMI’s Merrick Toves, catches the ball during their game against Fiji in the 2023 Pacific Games on Saturday. On Friday evening, the NMI Men’s National Football Team will take on Tahiti.
