Bulk of CNMI delegation returns tomorrow

KOROR, Palau—The bulk of the 129-strong CNMI delegation to the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games will return to home soil tomorrow morning after spending the past days in Palau, representing the NMI the best they could.

Despite being pitted against powerhouse countries such as New Caledonia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa, among others, Team CNMI earned a lot of respect from the bigger countries, going above expectations and hauling 24 medals, four of them being gold.

The CNMI placed 11th out of 20 countries in the medal standings, beginning its charge with a phenomenal push by the swim team on opening day, and closing it with style courtesy of the two gold medals and one bronze effort of the triathlon team.

Aside from athletics, outrigger canoe, and a tennis player, all other members will begin their journey back home, leaving the Palau Community College at 10pm.

The team heads to the Palau International Airport in Airai, and will leave for Guam before arriving on home turf around 9am tomorrow.

Meanwhile, New Caledonia finished the Games as medal champions, bagging an incredible 112 medals throughout the competition, with its latest medal coming courtesy of its men’s basketball team, which defeated Guam Wednesday night at the Palau National Gymnasium.

In all, the French colony finished with 56 gold, while striking silver 29 times and racking up another 27 bronze.

Taking home the second-most medals was Fiji, which stormed through the competition for 23 gold, 21 silver, and 15 bronze, while all of Nauru’s 18 medals were gold, placing them in third.

PNG finished in fourth with 16 gold, 11 silver, and eight bronze while Samoa rounds up the top five with 16 gold, eight silver, and two bronze.

Making it to the top 10 and giving their home town crowd much to cheer about was the Palauan delegation, which scored nine gold, three silver, and seven bronze, while Guam followed with six gold, nine silver, and 14 bronze.

Cook Islands was next in line with five gold, nine silver, and seven bronze, while the Federated States of Micronesia ended their impressive run with five gold, a silver, and five bronze. Tonga capped the top 10 with five gold, a silver, and three bronze, and was followed by CNMI.

Other countries with medals include Solomon Islands (11), Vanuatu (6), Wallis and Futuna (4), Marshall Islands (4), Niue (5), Norfolk Island (2), Tuvalu (2), and American Samoa (1).