Samoa

The "Give Every Child a Future" project is the major international focus of civil society group Rotary as it celebrates 100 years of service in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific.

Rotary will partner with the United Nations children's agency UNICEF to support the introduction of three vaccines in the region.

Vathinee Jitjaturunt of UNICEF Pacific said the vaccines targeted three diseases.

"This project I think it will be able to prevent diarrhoea, pneumonia and cervical cancer. These three diseases are high in the Pacific."

To have the students carry the baton brought the communities together in unison, manifesting the slogan of the Samoa 2019 Pacific Games, “one in spirit.” 

The Savai'i leg of the relay will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday before coming to Upolu.

People of all ages flooded the streets as the torch baton for the Games made its way through and the event was live-streamed on Facebook.

Speaking at the ceremony yesterday Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi thanked China saying the building of the Multi-Sport Centre aligns with the government's vision to grow Faleata as the sports hub of Samoa and the Pacific region.

The Multi-Sport Centre consists of two state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor netball courts built to international specifications. It also has the capacity to host badminton, basketball, table tennis, boxing and other indoor sports.

RLIF CEO Nigel Wood confirmed on the eve of Saturday’s opening round of Oceania Cup matches between New Zealand and Tonga at Mt Smart Stadium and Samoa and Papua New Guinea at Leichhardt Oval that the international body wanted to play games in the Pacific islands.

An RLIF meeting in Singapore earlier this month agreed that the Oceania Cup would be staged mid-year and at the end of the season on an annual basis, except in 2021 and 2025 when the World Cup is held.

The start of the next Top 14 season is set to coincide with the duration of the World Cup, which starts on 20 September with the final set to be held on 2 November.

World Rugby’s regulation nine states that clubs have to release their players to their respective nations for official Test matches, which includes the World Cup.

However, Samoa coach Steve Jackson has reportedly already had a number of his players tell him that they have had to make themselves unavailable for the showpiece tournament.

Conducted by Football Federation Samoa, the draw used seedings based on FIFA rankings.

In the men's event, six teams had been set to be placed in Group A and five in Group B but due to an mistake on the day, five teams were drawn for Group A and six for Group B.

To rectify this, a straight swap was carried out in the match schedules between the groups.

Group A features hosts Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand under-23s, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

New Caledonia are the top seeds in Group B, alongside American Samoa, Tuvalu, Tahiti, Fiji and Solomon Islands.

 Medal Ceremony Coordinator Kristian Scanlan says they will display the best of the island nation to other countries.

“Eyeing gold for the XVI Pacific Games is any athlete’s dream come true and the reason we’re bringing the best to the podium.”

More than 320 medal ceremonies will take place during the two weeks of sporting action.

Medal ceremonies are the most broadcast event during any Games and play an important role for all the sports.

World Rugby's regulation nine states clubs must release their players for test rugby, including World Cups.

The French Top 14 season will run through the duration of the Rugby World Cup, starting in September this year.

Clubs can't publicly insist their players from Pacific Island nations don't go to Japan but there have been previous instances where it has been made clear to internationals that their future employment is at risk if they choose country before club.

Taupau was on Thursday named in New Zealand’s preliminary Test squad however on Friday took to social media to announce he had made himself available for Samoa.

“After hours of soul searching and plenty of discussion with my fiancee and family, I had to make a tough call to the NZ Kiwis coach Michael Maguire this morning to inform him that I have made the decision to make myself unavailable for selection for the NZ Kiwis, and elected to make myself available for the Toa Samoa team once again,” Taupau wrote.

There will be eight countries competing in five medal events for shooting. The competition will take place in the second week of the Games, from 15-19 July.

"The main priority of shooting is safety," said Technical Delegate from Australia, Judith Kent.

The shooting venue is Tafaigata Shooting Range, built in 2007 when Samoa last hosted the Pacific Games. 

It is located 15 minutes from Apia CBD and can hold 200-300 specatators.

"I had a look at the pistol range to see that everything has been in place, which was great.