On Thursday, during the Northern Marianas Sports Association general membership meeting in the Taga Hall of Fiesta Resort, Pacific Games Council CEO Andrew Minogue, who attended virtually, discussed the possibility of adding two more sports to the games — tennis and weightlifting.
“There is a request from NMSA and the governor’s office for us to consider adding a couple more sports back on,” he said. “We have a little more work to do before we can confirm that, but I think that would be good to make the games a little bigger.”
The six sports confirmed for the games are athletics, baseball, badminton, beach volleyball, golf and triathlon.
“These Oceania federations responsible for those sports have all been very supportive of moving the games to 2022,” Minogue added.
NMSA president Jerry Tan asked Minogue what the procedures are to get tennis and weightlifting included in the games.
“Our initial response was to make sure that we could fit those two additional sports into our budget,” Minogue said.
“The starting point would be to assure that the costs of the two additional sports could be met. It’s not just competition or equipment with more athletes coming, it’s also meals, transportation and more. First and foremost, I think there is a budget issue that we need to resolve,” he added.
In the case of weightlifting, there is a very strong possibility of gaining support from the international federation, which can provide equipment.
CNMI Weightlifting Federation president John Davis speaks during the recent Northern Marianas Sports Association general membership meeting in the Taga Hall of Fiesta Resort. Photo by James F. Sablan Jr.
Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association president Jeff Race shares his thoughts during the recent Northern Marianas Sports Association general membership meeting in the Taga Hall of Fiesta Resort. Photo by James F. Sablan Jr.
CNMI Weightlifting Federation president John Davis said he has been talking with the Oceania Weightlifting Federation and its president, Marcus Stephen.
Minogue also noted that the games will be moved to June 2022. He said the Micronesian Games that will be hosted by the Marshall Islands, and the British Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, will be held around the same time.
“We have to do some work with our friends in the Marshall Islands who are hosting [tennis and weightlifting] so that we could assure them that the athletes, particularly from the Micronesian region, are able to participate in both the Pacific Mini Games and the Micronesian Games as well. Just to make sure that we are not stepping on toes.”
Minogue added, “The beauty of the program at the moment is that for the six sports we have, there are no…questions with the Micronesian Games.”
Still, he said, once these issues are resolved, it is likely that games on Saipan will include tennis and weightlifting.
Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association president Jeff Race said they are “very highly committed to [the inclusion of] tennis…. We have already got the commitments from our players. Should tennis be added, they will be here for the mini games. Following our success in Samoa, we are very keen to [play] tennis… We are 100% committed.”
In the XVI Pacific Games in Samoa, the CNMI tennis team earned three gold medals, the most that the Commonwealth had garnered in a regional competition. The CNMI tennis team consisted of Colin Sinclair, Robbie Schorr, Ken Song, Bobby Cruz, Carol Lee, Malika Miyawaki, Isabel Heras, Tania Tan, head coach Jeff Race and assistant coach Lydia Tan.
