Samuela ‘Akilisi Pohiva has congratulated Team Tonga on their achievements at the Pacific Games 2019 that was held in Apia, Samoa over the last 2 weeks.
“I am very proud of all of the members of Team Tonga for having won the highest number of Gold Medals as well as the highest number of overall Medals in the Apia Games, in comparison to previous Pacific Games in which Tonga has participated. This is a major achievement for Tonga and full credit must go to the individual members of Team Tonga as well as the Managers, Coaches and support staff,” Mr Pohiva said.
Team Tonga won a total of 29 Medals in Apia: 9 Gold, 5 Silver and 15 Bronze. This placed them in 7th place in the total Medal’s tally out of the 22 Pacific Island Countries that participated, excluding Australia and New Zealand.
Tonga Gold Medal winners are: ‘Aisake Tu’itupou who won two Gold Medals in Weightlifting; ‘Ata Maama Tu’utafaiva one Gold in Women’s Shot Put; Mosese Foliaki who also won two Gold Medals in the Men’s High Jump and 110m hurdles; Moala Takelo (1 Gold) and the Men’s Team (1 Gold) and the Women’s Team (1 Gold) in Taekwondo; Semisi Fanguna and Matavao Fanguna Jnr in the Men’s Double (1 Gold) in Tennis.
“I had stated in the Legislative Assembly earlier this year that we would achieve the highest number of Gold Medals in the 2019 Pacific Games because of the reform that Government had introduced into the way in which sports is organized and managed in Tonga and because of the application of the qualifying standards for each sport. The Government will do its best to ensure that Team Tonga’s success can be built upon for future competition,” Mr Pohiva said.
The Prime Minister also made special mention of the Tonga’s Netball Team, “Although they lost to Cook Islands in the playoff for the Gold Medal, all our players gave it everything they had, and it was beautiful to watch.”
The last members of Team Tonga are expected to return from Apia on Tuesday.
Photo Tonga Netball. Caption: Tonga's netball team won silver at the Samoa 2019 Pacific Games