Officials to meet with Micro Games Council

Local officials playing key roles in the planning and organizing of the 2006 Micronesian Games will meet with the quadrennial event’s Executives Council early next year.

This according to Micronesian Games Executive Committee chair Juan L. Babauta, who disclosed during Wednesday’s meeting at the Governor’s Office that the committee will meet with executives of the Micronesian Games on February to discuss important matters relating to the hosting of the Games.

“That’s a major meeting that we could hold in Saipan and invite the members to come and join us,” Babauta said told members of the committee.

With the meeting near, Babauta said it is necessary for everyone to pull together and work against time to assure a successful event, citing that the main focus at the moment is getting funds to shoulder costs of renovations and construction of sports facilities.

Meanwhile, with the by-laws of the Micronesian Games charter indicating that the front face of all medals presented during the event bear the Games’ logo, the committee has already begun talks of possibly launching a logo contest.

Babauta and vice chair Michael White said during the meeting that the responsibility to handle the task of organizing and promoting the contest lies with the public relations and media committee headed by KMCV sports director Bob Coldeen.

Aside from the logo contest, another option brought up was the possibility of using the same logo used when the CNMI last hosted the Games in 1990.

All options will be among the issues discussed during the committee’s next meeting scheduled for Monday at the DFS Galleria conference room.

The by-laws also require that commemorative medals be presented to all officials, competitors, team and technical officials and members of the Games organizing committee.

The Games will be held on Saipan from June 23 to July 7 with about 1,500 to 1,700 athletes and officials expected to participate.

The Games, then known as the Micronesian Olympics, was first held on Saipan in 1969. It was revived on Saipan in 1990 and was hosted in Guam four years later. Palau hosted the 1998 Games, while Pohnpei won the bid for the 2002 event.

Next year’s event was supposed to be held on Yap, however, the state was devastated by several typhoons. The Games was up for grabs during the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games in Palau this past summer, and the CNMI jumped on the opportunity and was awarded the hosting.