Mini Games hosting in 2021 still on track

The CNMI’s losing bid to host the 2017 Pacific Mini Games is a blessing in disguise now that sports facilities on Saipan suffered major damage from Typhoon Soudelor.

Fallen trees are scattered near the fence of the Oleai Sports Complex after Typhoon Soudelor hit Saipan last month. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Commonwealth tied Vanuatu, 8-8, during the first round battle for the hosting rights to the quadrennial meet during the Pacific Games Council general assembly in New Caledonia in 2011 and eventually lost in the second round, 9-13. Had the CNMI won, it will be pressed to make immediate repairs to the Oleai Sports Complex and other facilities like the Marianas High School Gymnasium or worse give up the hosting rights to other willing nations. However, with the Commonwealth awarded the hosting rights to the 2021 competitions, time will be on the Commonwealth’s side.

With six years to go before the Mini Games come to Saipan for the first time, Northern Marianas Sports Association president Michael White believes the CNMI will have a lot of time to get things done.

“I have every confidence that we will be ready to host the Pacific Mini Games in 2021,” White told Saipan Tribune.

The NMSA president added he hasn’t received any call or email from the PGC, raising concerns on the damage cost by Soudelor to sports facilities on Saipan and its effect to the Commonwealth’s hosting of the Mini Games in 2021.

“I have not heard from the PGC since the typhoon. No visits from the PGC are scheduled,” White said.

Usually, the PGC, headed by president Vidhya Lakhan with Andrew Minogue as executive director, holds a site visit to the host nation a few months before the competition schedule. The two officials had their last visit on Saipan and its facilities in May 2014 and two months later the CNMI was given the hosting rights for the 2021 event.

Minogue, in an earlier evaluation report, recommended minor repairs and improvements at the Oleai complex, but now the facility may have to undergo a major facelift after Typhoon Soudelor struck Saipan last Aug. 2. However, repairs at the sports facility may not happen soon, as CNMI relief efforts are focused on rebuilding homes for affected families and providing residents’ other immediate needs, such as power and adequate water supply.

NMASA has cancelled its last two monthly meetings and has yet to discuss among its members plans about the repair works, while its executive director Tony Rogolifoi have been preparing an assessment report on the damage to the Oleai Sports Complex.