The NMI’s Leowell Cristobal, right, makes it to the podium after placing third in the clean & jerk event in the men’s 67kg class of the weightlifting competition in the 2023 Pacific Games at the Maranatha Hall in Honiara, the Solomon Islands.
HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Northern Marianas Sports Association) — Weightlifting contributed another medal to Team Marianas’ haul, as Leowell Cristobal claimed bronze in the men’s 67kg clean & jerk at the continuation of the weightlifting competition in the 2023 Pacific Games yesterday in Honiara, the Solomon Islands.
Cristobal traveled to Honiara from Florida to represent the Northern Mariana Islands and made the long trip worth it with his podium finish in the highly competitive men’s 67kg class. Cristobal also suited up for Team Marianas in the 2022 Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games and notched a silver medal in the clean & jerk.
With the 24-year-old’s bronze medal on Day 2 of the weightlifting competition, Team Marianas now had five medals. Cristobal’s fellow weightlifter, Raymond Santos, delivered the first three for NMI with a gold in the snatch, silver in total weight, and bronze in clean & jerk in the men’s 55kg class contest last Monday morning. Swimmer Isaiah Aleksenko gave the NMI its fourth medal on Monday night when he placed third in the 100m butterfly event (55.38 seconds) behind New Caledonia’s Ethan Demesnil (54.82 seconds) and Thibaut Mary (55.29 seconds).
In weightlifting, Riella Ichiou will compete on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., while Angel San Nicolas and Antonete Labausa will take the stage on Thursday. Joey Colisao will be the last weightlifter to compete for Team Marianas, as he will have his event this Friday.
3 swimmers march to finals; PBs set
Maria Batallones, Juhn Tenorio, and Taiyo Akimaru moved into the finals of their respective events.
Batallones raced in the women’s 50 backstroke and finished fifth in the preliminaries Tuesday morning to earn a spot in the finale. Batallones timed in at 35.09 seconds, surpassing her personal best of 35.96 seconds.
In the men’s 200m individual medley, Akimaru took the last finals berth in the event, clocking 2:24.65 and defeating seven other swimmers.
In the men’s 50m backstroke, Tenorio was tied for fifth place with New Caledonia’s Chrissander Cerda to make it to the finale. Tenorio and Cerda recorded identical times of 27.56 seconds and the former eclipsed his PB mark of 28.13 seconds.
Shoko Litulumar and Frances Raho also competed in the 50m backstroke with the former setting a new PB (33.77 seconds) and the latter clocking in at 35.23 seconds.
In the 4x200m freestyle relay, the NMI won bronze.
As of Tuesday evening, the NMI had already earned 1 gold, 1 silver, and4 bronze medals.
Golfers hit course; NMI netters return to play
The opening round of the 4-round golf competition kicks off today, Wednesday, at the Honiara Golf Club.
Joseph Sasamoto will be the first to tee-off for the NMI, as he is scheduled to join three others in the 7:40 a.m. tee off on hole No. 6. He will be followed by Ben Jones Jr. at 7:50 a.m., Franco Santos at 8:10 a.m., and the NMI’s lone female golfer Zhimin Jin at 12:10. Joe “Kamikaze’ Camacho will tee off from the first hole at 8:10 a.m.
In tennis, singles and doubles events will start today, Wednesday, but the draws had yet to be posted at press time. The NMI’s Colin Ramsey, Moris Villanueva, Nason Wessel, and June Yu are all competing in the men’s singles and will also play in the doubles.
Meanwhile, New Caledonia has overtaken host Solomon Islands in the medal standings. As of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, New Caledonia had collected 27 medals (10 gold, 8 silvers, and 9 bronze). Solomons dropped to third with its 5-8-6 tally behind Australia (7-5-1). Team Marianas was still in the Top 10, joining Marshall Islands (5-3-0), Papua New Guinea (4-4-5), Samoa (4-1-1), Guam (3-0-0), Tahiti (2-8-8), and Cook Islands (1-0-0).
Team Marianas’ participation in the 2023 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.
NMI swimmers, from left, Kean Pajarillaga, Juhn Tenorio, Taiyo Akimaru, and Isaiah Aleksenko.
Team Marianas athletes and officials attend the opening day of the swimming competition to cheer on NMI swimmers.
