4,300 athletes listed for Pacific Games

More than 4,000 athletes are listed for the 2011 Pacific Games in New Caledonia as registration of entries by names closed last month.

“On 28 June, at the official close of athlete entries for the 2011 Pacific Games, some 4,300 athletes had been registered by the 22 Pacific Games Associations,” according to the Pacific Games Council website.

The list is not final, as participating countries can still make changes once they arrive in New Caledonia or during the technical meeting before the competition starts. The number is likely to go down to 3,000 once the Pacific Games begins on Aug. 27.

Of the 4,300 athletes, host New Caledonia as expected has the most entries with 747. The French territory will compete in all 28 sports lined up in the 15-day quadrennial event.

The CNMI listed 68 athletes, including golfers Jess Wabol, Tony Satur, Jeff Taylor, and Adam Hardwicke and tracksters Rachel Abrams, Trevor Ogumoro, and Douglas Dillay. Ten CNMI players are registered for beach volleyball, but only four will be in the final roster. Baseball listed 31 players, but the CNMI sluggers are not sure yet if they will be able to go New Caledonia.

“If our baseball team is not able to go, we are hopeful that the penalties will be waived because of circumstances,” Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association president Michael White said.

Besides the CNMI and New Caledonia, 20 other countries are participating in the Pacific Games. Papua New Guinea has the second most entries with 432, followed by Fiji (426), Tahiti (410), Samoa (319), Guam (312), Vanuatu (234), Solomon Islands (248), Cook Islands (212), Wallis & Futuna (185), Tonga (139), American Samoa (162), Niue (77), Kiribati (75), Nauru (69), Palau (66), the Federated States of Micronesia (24), Tokelau (22), and the Marshall Islands (8).

Countries with more than 200 entries will be competing in almost of the events in New Caledonia. Sports lined up in next month’s Pacific Games are athletics, basketball, beach and indoor volleyball, soccer, golf, weightlifting, swimming, Rugby 7’s, tennis, table tennis, vaa (canoe racing), badminton, baseball, boxing, cricket, karate, squash, surfing, taekwondo, shooting, archery, triathlon, sailing, body building, power lifting, and judo.