By Elijah Lavett – EM TV Sport, Port Moresby
Papua New Guinea’s weightlifters are continuing preparing for the Oceania Weightlifting Championships, and the Rio 2016 Olympic Qualifiers later this year.
PNG weightlifters are training in New Caledonia, under the watchful eyes of coach, Paul Coffa.
PNG will be sending weightlifters to attend the Oceania Championships in Fiji in an attempt to qualify one male and one female to attend the 2016 Rio Olympics. In order to qualify, PNG male weightlifters have to finish in the top 5, while the women must finish in the top 4.
This will be a tough task ahead, as they will be competing against rivals, Australia. Samoa will also be participating in the qualifiers and will be a threat to Papua New Guinea.
With the success of Dika Toua, Steven Kari and other lifters during the 2015 Pacific Games, there is hope of PNG lifters qualifying for Rio.
PNG will also be sending a junior team to compete in the Oceania Junior Championships.
