By Elijah Lavett – EMTV News, Port Moresby
PNG Powerlifter, Vagi Henry, has been in training for the past 6 months in preparation for the Pacific Games. Vagi, along with other lifters were selected into the PNG Powerlifting team for the Pacific Games after attending the Oceania Championships in Gold Coast last year.
In previous Pacific Games, Papua New Guinea was able to win 8 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze, a total of 15 medals topping the standings in powerlifting.
PNG powerlifter, Vagi Henry, has been hard at training at the High Performance gym with an aim to better his performance in the 120+kg.
In January this year, Vagi and other powerlifters from PNG were invited to Nauru to celebrate their 50th Independence, and with powerlifting being Nauru’s biggest sport, a tournament was held with other lifters from around the world who attended the event. Henry was impressed with his own performance, finishing 4th behind top lifters in the world.
Vagi and a few lifters use the High Performance gym to train every week, with majority of the team training in their villages.
Though powerlifting has been around for a while, it has to some extent become stagnant. Female lifter, Linda Pulsan, has been part of the PNG Olympic committee’s Heroes program promoting the sport in schools.
Though they have generated interest from many young men and women to join the sport, funding to run different clinics and competitions has always been the sport’s biggest issue.
