archery

RNZ reports the rules state that athletes are meant to shoot in shorts but the 18 year old said he wanted to do something different to showcase his heritage and the judges agreed to the request.

"It gives you a bit of a boost to know, to actually feel the tradition and the culture. The last couple of days I was thinking of it and I tried it on and I shot fine in it with the wind but it was mainly just to show how proud we are to be Tongan, the team in general...there's a line called "Tongan Pride"...it had to show some of my culture, some of what we actually have in Tonga."

This followed the Olympic qualification at the Pangai Lahi Range in Nuku’alofa today, where Fiji’s Robert Elder joined Tonga’s duo of SifaTaumopepeau and Lusi Tatafu as the newest Olympians from the region in the sport.

Nuku’alofa Times reports the trio join Australia’s top woman archer Semra Ferguson as the Olympic qualifiers from the Oceania Archery Championships in Tonga this week.

Robert of Fiji and Sifa of Tonga are the two male qualifiers while Lusi and Semra are the women qualifiers.

Kaniva News reports archers from around Oceania and as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji and New Caledonia are competing in Tonga in the Oceania Archery Championships, the Commonwealth Championships and the Continental Qualifying Tournament.

The Continental Qualifying Tournament allows the successful athletes to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in August.