The NMI’s Christina Tudela celebrates her gold medal win in the model physique event in the bodybuilding competition of the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, the Solomon Islands on Monday night.
HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Northern Marianas Sports Association) — Team Marianas began the second and final week of competitions in the 2023 Pacific Games in style, winning a pair of gold medals and one bronze and recording a dominant victory in football yesterday in Honiara, the Solomon Islands.
Christina Tudela handed the NMI its third gold medal in the 2023 Pacific Games, which resumed Monday after taking a brief break on Sunday. Tudela topped the women’s model physique category, getting the judges’ nod in the preliminaries in the morning session and in evening finale posing against five other competitors. Davy Laxa, for his part, competed in the under 65kg bodybuilding event and was awarded the bronze medal.
After the success of the bodybuilding’s pair, Tania Tan capped the fruitful night for Team Marianas with a gold medal finish in the 5,000m run, besting 18 other runners. Tan, who is based in Hawaii and arrived in Honiara on Saturday to join Team Marianas in its campaign in the 2023 Pacific Games, completed her first race in 18:08.69. The 22-year-old athlete crossed the finish line more than 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Scholastica Herman (18:38.93) of Papua New Guinea. New Caledonia’s Deborah Koboer (19:03.46) joined Tan and Herman in the Top 3.
Surpassed
With a pair of gold medals and a bronze on Monday, the NMI now has a 4-1-6 gold-silver-bronze medal tally, surpassing its performance in the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa where it won 3 golds and 1 silver.
In football, the NMI Men’s National Football Team got its first victory against an Oceania Football Confederation member after shutting down American Samoa, 4-0.
Jireh Yobech opened up the scoring for the NMI with a penalty kick, while Ruben Guerrero hit back-to-back goals in the second half (46th and 70th minute) before Nolan Ngewakl capped the team’s long-game dominance with a goal in the 90th. Merrick Toves, who flew from the United Kingdom to Honiara to suit up for the NMI, was the goalkeeper for the game and earned his first clean sheet in an international competition.
“I would like to congratulate the NMI football family for today’s victory. For a young and developing football nation like NMI, winning is not everything. It’s also about the football family’s hard work and dedication, and today we are rewarded for all the things we are doing to develop our players and the program. I sincerely would like to thank the NMI football family for always supporting and encouraging us. Their support continues to give us so much energy and power,” NMI Men’s National Team head coach Michiteru Mita said.
“The boys showed great dedication and team work. All 23 players are working hard and the support of the coaching staff are also great. We will continue the hard work and keep our focus to win next game,” Mita added.
The NMI Men’s National Football Team will play Tuvalu this Thursday at 1p.m. (Saipan time).
In other results in athletics, runners Casey Cruz, Alexander Camacho, and Theodore Rodgers completed their respective races in the 100m. Rodgers was on Heat 3 of the men’s race and clocked in at 11.52 seconds to finish fifth, one notch behind the fourth semis qualifier in his group. Camacho recorded 11.55 seconds — also for a fifth place finish on Heat 1. In the women’s race, Cruz ran on Heat 4 and logged 13.07 seconds.
Athletics, football, and va’a races will continue this week, while beach volleyball’s Logan Mister and Andrew Johnson will have their first match today, Tuesday, and triathlete Leo Wania will compete on Wednesday.
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.
The NMI’s Tania Tan, center, won the gold medal in the 5,000m run of the 2023 Pacific Games on Monday.
The NMI Men’s National Team starting 11 pose for a photo before their game against American Samoa Monday morning. The NMI cruised to a 4-0 victory.
