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2017 Mini Games in Vanuatu
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Posted on Sep 04 2011
The CNMI missed hosting the 2017 Mini Games after losing to Vanuatu in the second round of selection yesterday during the Pacific Games general assembly in New Caledonia.
The Commonwealth drew only nine votes against Vanuatu’s 13, giving the latter another chance to host the Mini Games. Vanuatu hosted the quadrennial meet for the first time in 1993. The CNMI has never hosted the Mini Games and was hoping the voting members of the Pacific Games Association will lean toward the country that has never hosted the competition.
Nauru was also entered in the battle for the hosting rights of the 2017 Mini Games, but bowed out in the first round of selection after getting only six votes. The CNMI and Vanuatu were in a deadlock with eight votes apiece.
Twelve of the 22 votes are needed for the majority win in the first round of election, but since neither the CNMI nor Vanuatu got it, a second round of selection was required. In the tiebreaker, Vanuatu gained the nod of the voting members.
Before the selection of the host for the Mini Games, Nauru, the CNMI, and Vanuatu were given 30 minutes each to present their respective bids. Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association president Michael White represented the CNMI in the selection and some members of the bid committee were there for the presentation. Gov. Benigno R. Fitial was also present at the assembly to back up the Commonwealth’s bid.
Vanuatu Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (VASANOC) Antoine Boudler led the winning bid’s presentation.
In Vanuatu’s bid, it is offering 14 sports against the CNMI’s 11. Vanuatu has listed athletics, beach volleyball, football, golf, rugby, table tennis, weight lifting, archery, boxing, cricket, judo, karate, and netball. The CNMI did not offer rugby, netball, and cricket, which a lot of nations in Melanesia and Polynesia play.
Vanuatu plans to hold the 2017 Mini Games in the last two weeks of August until early September and will have to totally renovate the Korman Sports Complex, which will be the main venue for the Games. Vanuatu is expected to built a couple more facilities and has estimated the cost of hosting the Games to more than $30 million.
