By Brian Tobia and Chris Yandawai, Port Moresby 2015 Games News Service
PORT MORESBY July 17 – Australian siblings Caroline Marton and Carmen Marton bagged two gold medals for their country at the Port Moresby 2015 Pacific Games in women’s taekwondo at the BSP Arena on Thursday.
Caroline and her sister Carmen, the 2013 world champion, made history at Port Moresby 2015 by winning gold medals in the under 53kg and under 62kg divisions respectively, for Australia.
It is the first time Australia is competing at the Pacific Games.
Caroline, the first of the two sisters to fight, dominated her opponent, Alison Deane (TAH), from the first round winning the match by 12-0.
Caroline said she was more than pleased with the win.
“There was a lot of pressure going into this competition because it was part of the Olympic selections. I little bit nervous but very, very happy,” said Caroline.
“Australian women’s taekwondo has a long history of being very, very competitive. A lot of friends in Australia have taken the initiative to go overseas to develop themselves, and it is really, really good (in that) we are very passionate and a lot of us are able to work together.”
Two fights later, Carmen took control of her fight right from the onset beating New Zealand’s Rhiannon O’Neill 19-2 in three rounds.
Carmen’said it was a really tough day but she was happy to come out with the win.
“There are some new competitors that we have not seen before,” Caroline said.
“They are coming with really new fighting styles so I enjoyed fighting today. It has been a real challenge. The atmosphere has been fantastic. It has been a really good environment.”
The other two Australian gold medals went to Keshena Waterford in the under 49kg division and Nicole Men in the under 73kg class.
In the other finals, New Zealand’s Angela Kilday won her match over Australia’s Deanna Kyriazopoulos in the under 46kg class in golden points after the two were tied 4-4 at the end of three rounds.
Kilday won New Zealand’s first ever gold medal at the Pacific Games.
In under 57kg, Mataheitini Raihauti (TAH) won the gold, while PNG’s Noelyn Hetana won the under 67kg to the delight of the home crowd.
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