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Pacific Games Day 11 Wrap: Six Boxers punch ticket to Paris, Volleyballers through to final, track and field finish successful campaign

 

Pacific Games Day 11 Wrap: Six Boxers punch ticket to Paris, Volleyballers through to final, track and field finish successful campaign

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Caitlin Parker and Tyler McDonald Sol2023 Paris 2024

Check out the results from our Aussie athletes at the 2023 Pacific Games.

Boxing – Six Aussies qualify for Paris Olympics with wins in final

Australian boxers won six of seven finals on day one of the Pacific Games finals to earn qualification for Paris 2024.

Tiana Echegaray, Tyla McDonald, Marissa Williamson Pohlman, Caitlin Parker, Charlie Senior and Callum Peters all won their finals to secure a Paris 2024 quota in a remarkable day of results against tough opposition, with Adrian Paoletti going down to Tongan Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali in the final fight of the day.

Tokyo Olympian Parker becomes the first Australian female boxer to qualify for two Olympic Games, while Williamson Pohlman is the first Indigenous woman to qualify for the Olympics in boxing.

World Championship silver medallist Parker has Olympic redemption on her mind after her dominant victory over Deanne Read of New Zealand.

“It’s the best feeling in the world, I can’t believe I’ve done it twice,” Parker said. “Ever since I got out of the ring in Tokyo I swear I changed my mindset then and there, I knew I wasn’t done in that Olympic ring. Theres so much more for me to prove, and it’s coming! 

“I’ve got months and months to train now with my coaches Santiago Nieva and Marcos Amado, they’re the dream team. With them we can do anything, this Aussie boxing team, wow they can fight.”

Indigenous boxer Callum Peters put in a dominant display to defeat Tongan Roman Viney by unanimous decision.

“The ticket to Paris is in my hands, it’s freaky, I feel like I’m dreaming,” Peters said. “I’m so proud all of this hard work is paying off, 11 years now in the ring. 

“I finally get the chance to represent my country and my people. All my thanks to mum and dad and the boys back home always helping and supporting me, even when times are hard - I can’t wait to see you and celebrate.”

Williamson Pohlman was emotional after overcoming a knee injury to win her final against New Zealand’s Cara Wharerau.

“I’m over the moon, I’ve been battling a knee injury that I thought would derail this campaign,” she said. “I’ve been rehabbing it like crazy, I thought I was going to lose this Olympic dream of mine, but I blocked it out, and just so happy to win this fight.

“I’m the first Indigenous woman to qualify for an Olympics in boxing, it just feels amazing. I’m so excited to go home, spend time with family and the mob back home that have raised me from the grassroots level up.

“Never in my life did I think I could go to an Olympic Games. I was just a lost foster kid at one point, and four short years later I’m travelling the world with the sport I love, and I just qualified for the Olympics. I hope there’s kids who might see this, and know there can be a future, it can get better.”

Monique Sauci, Harry Garside, Tina Rahimi, Yusuf Chothia, Shannan Davey and Teremoana Teremoana finish the boxing campaign with their finals tomorrow from 1.00pm AEDT. 

Beach Volleyball – Aussies lock in gold medal matches

Both women’s and men’s teams won close semi-finals to progress to the gold medal match on Saturday.

Stefie Fejes and Jana Milutinovic won 21-11, 24-22 against Vanuata, saving three set points against them in a tense second set before taking the victory, setting up a gold medal match against Solomon Islands.

Ben Hood and D’Artagnan Potts defeated Northern Mariana Islands 21-11, 21-18 to progress into the final against Tuvalu.

“It feels amazing, it was a very tough battle at the end there but we pushed through and we’re really proud,” Stefie said.

“I have so much adrenaline and we’re so happy, a little bit of nerves as well but that’s all part of it.

“It’s such an amazing thing to be in the final, it’s what we came here to do and we’re hoping to win the gold. We’re going to go out there and play our best, we’re so excited to play against the home country in the final.”

Ben welcomed the continued growth of the partnership with D’Artagnan throughout the time in Solomon Islands.

“We’re really excited to go through to the finals,” Ben said. “I think that we probably played our best game we have yet and we showed up at the right time.

“We really started to side-out and we didn’t really give them a chance on their side so really happy with how we played.

“We’ll definitely have a good sleep tonight and a bit of recovery, but definitely bring the energy tomorrow and keep playing as a team.”

The women will take to the court for their gold medal match at 9.00am tomorrow, with the men the following game around 9.45am.

Athletics – PBs and Podiums to finish Track and Field campaign

The Aussie track and field athletes continued their fantastic meet on the final day of competition, notching three gold, two silver and two PBs across their events.

Long jumpers Samantha Dale and Katie Gunn made it an Aussie 1-2, with Samantha launching 6.42m to win in a new Games Record ahead of Katie’s 6.03m.

“Its nice getting a record and having your name secured there on the sheet for the next time around, I felt really good out there,” Samantha said.

Calab Law made it a 100-200 sprint double, clocking a scorching 20.60 in the blistering Honiara heat to win his second gold for the meet.

Isabella Guthrie clocked a PB of 57.77 to win silver in the 400m hurdles, getting chased down on the final 30 metres by winner Loan Ville of New Caledonia.

Connor Murphy capped off the team’s campaign, winning the triple jump with a legal 16.45m whiule also clocking a massive windy PB of 16.85m.


"I felt really good, it's early in the season so I wasn't expecting to be posting massive numbers. So to come away with a windy Pb, fills me with a lot of confidence.

"It was a really good atmosphere at the track. The track is nice, the fans are passionate and loud, it was just a really enjoyable competition," said Murphy.

Sailing – Tight tussle as sailors head into medal race day

ILCA-7 sailors Isaac Schotte and Tom Farley continued their fleet racing, with Isaac notching a second and two threes, with Tom notching three seconds. 

With only one day left of racing, including the medal race, Isaac is sitting in third, Tom in fourth, behind experienced sailors from New Caledonia and Samoa.

“It was a big day of racing, in a new fleet against the top guy from New Caledonia who I haven’t come up against this week yet,” Isaac said. “It was very tight and intense racing, my body feels a bit wrecked but it was some great racing.

“We’re sitting third and fourth, currently tied for first in the teams event so tomorrow will be big.

“The race committee is planning on two more races before the medal race tomorrow – pending weather. I’m hoping for those extra races in the morning to give us a chance to move up on the podium. I’ll be coming in to sail aggressively, with a lot of passion and will fight as hard as I can.”

Sailboarders Amelia Wilson and Charlotte Wormald continued their competition, with mirror image results today – Charlotte getting a third and fourth, with Amelia a fourth and third. The duo sit in third and fourth position heading into the medal race day.

Final day events

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