Zhimin hailed Best Junior Female athlete

The CNMI’s Zhimin Jin waves to the camera while being accompanied by her caddy and coach, Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho, during the golf competition of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 at the Coral Ocean Resort golf course. (NMPMG2022/KEN CAMACHO)

The gold medalist of the women’s golf competition in the recent Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 was adjudged the Best Junior Female athlete of the Games.

The CNMI’s Zhimin Jin turned back challenges from Cook Islands’ Rotana Howard and Samoa’s Faith Vui to top the women’s leaderboard with a four-round total of 312, a mere stroke ahead of runner-up Howard’s 313 and two strokes better than Vui’s 314. That proved to be enough to get her the prestigious Mini Games award. 

The 15-year-old Marianas High School student said the Best Junior Female athlete award of the Mini Games is another surprise on top of her winning the gold medal in the 11th staging of the Games.

“I’m again surprised I won Best Junior Female athlete for the Mini Games…My parents were also surprised. We didn’t even know there was a category for that in the Games,” she said. 

Jin also thanked Bob Coldeen, the CNMI delegation’s chef de mission, her family, the Commonwealth Federation of Golf Associations, and her coach, Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho, for her success in the Games. Coldeen nominated Jin for the best junior athlete of the Games’ plum.

Aside from Jin, the Pacific Games Council also hailed New Caledonia’s Hugo Koch as Best Junior Male athlete of the games after winning two gold medals (men’s and team event in golf).

Tahiti’s impressive men’s V6 team was also named Best Team of the Games, while Papua New Guinea’s athletics coach Brett Green was named Best Coach. For Best Technical Official, Yvonne Mullins of athletics got the nod 

PNG’s Dika Toua and Morea Baru were announced as Best Athlete of the Games during the closing ceremony at the Oleai Sports Complex last June 25.

Pacific Games Council CEO Andrew Minogue congratulated all the winners for embodying the spirit of competition and sportsmanship throughout the Games. 

“The Pacific Games Council is proud of all the winners from the 11th Pacific Mini Games awards. From world-class weightlifters Dika Toua and Morea Baru, to the world-leading Tahitian va’a paddlers, and onto the best two junior athletes, Zhimin Jin and Hugo Koch from golf, these Games were truly blessed with these excellent performances,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Camacho, who served as Jin’s caddy during the Games, congratulated her for being only the second CNMI woman golfer to win a gold medal and third to medal overall.

“It’s really an honor to guide and see someone achieve such success through hard work and being determined to succeed and I’m also hoping that through what she’s done and achieved that it will inspire other girls to follow. because honestly the CNMI needs girls to start playing so that they too can represent the entire CNMI in golf.”

The veteran ball striker said the 2022 Mini Games marked the first time that the CNMI had a women’s golf team.

“When I first started giving her lessons I knew that she was there for the long haul and not just there for the sake of taking lessons and these are the kind of athletes that as a coach you invest time and patience to push them forward and not pull them back. With Zhimin I think that she’s driven by her heart and instinct because she’s passionate about golf and there’s no one that stands in her way except herself and that’s where she needs my help the most,” he added.

Mini Games golf sports competition manager Geri Dela Cruz congratulated Jin for winning the best junior athlete of the Games.

“It’s an honor for the golf community to have Zhimin Jin be selected as the junior female athlete of the Pacific Mini Games. President Vidhya [Lakhan] told me during the Games that golf was the only sport that requires a team to consist of 50% junior athletes. He also further mentioned that it is the Pacific Games Council’s goal to require all sports to have junior athletes. Zhimin has been so dedicated to the sport and her hard work brought the CNMI the gold. This is a proud moment for us to celebrate. She bested all females in our four-day tournament. I hope that with her accomplishments, more youth would want to compete in golf,” she said.