By Dion Kombeng – EM TV Sports, Port Moresby
With the Pacific Games only a few months away, Secretary General for the Oceania Weightlifting Federation, Paul Coffa, is currently in Papua New Guinea.
He is inspecting facilities available to Team PNG’s weightlifters, and carrying out coaching clinics and athlete training.
Over the next few days, Coffa will run training for weightlifting volunteers, in preparation for the Pacific Games in July.
A coaching clinic was held today at the High Performance Training Centre, which regional weightlifting coaches throughout Papua New Guinea had the opportunity to be a part of.
Coffa says Papua New Guinean weightlifters have enormous potential and he believes that he can produce gold medal results, under his direction and guidance.
Fred Oala and Morea Paru are two of four PNG weightlifters under his coaching in Noumea. Both are currently ranked number one in the Oceania region, respectively.
A development system must be in place for our athletes to perform to the best of their abilities.
He is confident that Team PNG athletes will dominate weightlifting, come July.
Coffa added that he firmly believes that Papua New Guinean weightlifters have the potential to achieve positive results at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia from April 4 to 15.
Under his training, he says, Papua New Guinea can reap in more gold medals in the sport of weightlifting.
