Coco Talanoa — Sports / Page 14

He's beloved by the masses because of his carefree attitude and brutal fighting style but Tai Tuivasa is well aware of the task in front of him this weekend in Paris.

We followed 'Bam Bam' to Thailand for his training camp in the lead up to his title eliminator fight against former UFC Interim Heavyweight champ Ciryl Gane.

Coco Sports Talk with Penina and Ashley - covering all things sports from a Pasifika female lens!

#CocoSportsTalk looks at the many stories of Pasifika people involved in sports of all kinds, and the trials and tribulations of the talented athletes from all sectors of our community.

This episode is Part 2 of our Fathers Day - Fighters edition mini series.  Co-owners and head coaches at City Kickboxing Gym, Eugene Bareman & Doug Viney chat with us about Fatherhood, parenting styles, proud Dad moments & more.  Doug is joined by his son Roman who he also coaches & pays tribute to his Nana who raised him.

Here's to all the people acting in father roles whatever that set up is like in your whanau.…more

Coco Sports Talk with Penina and Ashley - covering all things sports from a Pasifika female lens!

#CocoSportsTalk looks at the many stories of Pasifika people involved in sports of all kinds, and the trials and tribulations of the talented athletes from all sectors of our community.

This episode is Part 1 of our Fathers Day - Fighters edition mini series.  Light Heavyweight UFC fighter Tyson Pedro and his father John sat down with us at City Kickboxing Gym in Auckland ahead of Tysons fight in Salt Lake City against Harry Hunsucker.  (He won the fight btw - peep the KO below).

They have a hilarious conversation with us about Fatherhood, parenting styles, proud Dad moments, what they love to do together and much more.…more

Coco Sports Talk with Penina and Ashley - covering all things sports from a Pasifika female lens!

#CocoSportsTalk looks at the many stories of Pasifika people involved in sports of all kinds, and the trials and tribulations of the talented athletes from all sectors of our community.

This episode we're excited to have Tongan Director and film maker Tony Vainuku join us via Zoom from Salt Lake City, Utah.  Tony is the Emmy Award winning Director of the 2015 film 'In Football We Trust' and more recently co-directed the Manti Te'o episode of the UNTOLD Season 2 series - 'UNTOLD: The girlfriend who didn't exist'.

Here he shares with Ninz & Ash how the opportunity came about to direct the documentary, how he was able to get Manti onboard with sharing his story to a global audience, what he learned from doing the doco, why it's so important for our people to tell our stories ...…more

Aaron Leha'uli, John Vake, Sione Sika & Tiger-Lily Cocker-Lemalie were part of the Tongan Wrestling team that competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The team made history as it was also the first time Tonga have ever had a wrestling team compete at the Commonwealth Games.

John Vake breaks down the history of wrestling in Tonga, famous Tongan wrestlers and more for us here - 

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Watch the full episode below 

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Edited by Sefa Taouma 

Camera & Sound Operators - Penina Momoiseā & Sefa Taouma 

Interviewers - Penina Momoiseā

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Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ on Air 

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Catch up on more of our Sports Talk eps here - 

Coco Sports Talk catches up with a couple of young men representing Niue at the Commonwealth Games - boxers Duken Williams & Deniro Pao-Clarke - at their fundraising event in Grey Lynn prior to them leaving for Birmingham.

We also check out their sparring session with legendary Tongan fight coach Lolo Heimuli who talks a bit on their preparation and what he's excited about leading up to the Games.

Since this interview, Duken Williams went on to win Bronze at the Commonwealth Games and make history as the first person to ever win a medal at the Commonwealth Games for Niue.

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Watch the full episode below 

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In memory of Eliza Truhobovich 13.02.88 - 15.07.22

She was a big part of the Hurtlocker gym, a close friend and huge supporter of Duken & Deniro.

The boys dedicate their Commonwealth Games bid to her memory.…more

As it came down to the business end of the Commonwealth Games this weekend, there were still medals up for grabs with 4 of our Pacific islands nations still in action on Sunday and they didn't disappoint with both Samoa and Vanuatu picking up the final medals for the Pacific Islands.

Samoa secured their 4th Silver by way of Heavyweight boxer Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali on Sunday evening in Birmingham. He took on home crowd favourite, 6ft 6 boxer Lewis Williams & put on as the commentators said 'a tremendous fight' but ultimately lost by Unanimous Decision.

At the medals ceremony, he shared the podium with fellow Pasifika fighter, Niuean Duken Williams who was awarded a Bronze. 

The Vanuatu Womens Beach Volleyball team took on the New Zealand Womens Beach Volleyball team in the Bronze medal match and what a match it was.

They went down in the first set 10-21 to NZ, clawed their way back in the 2nd set to win it 22-20 and then were dominant in the 3rd, winning comfortably 15-10, a fantastic effort from the Vanuatu pair.…more

23yr old, javelin thrower Donny Tuimaseve is ready to perform for Samoa at his second Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.  He has made the finals and will be Samoa's final athlete to compete.

Tuimaseve is self-taught in the art of javelin throwing, watching vision and tips on YouTube to refine his javelin craft over the years. In that time, he has thrown a national record for Samoa twice, with the most recent being a 69.05m throw at last month’s Pacific Mini Games in Northern Mariana Islands.

Born in Samoa, he had never seen javelin on the TV or even heard of the sport until one day at high school he came across the light spear equipment designed to be thrown as far as possible.

Read more about Donny's INCREDIBLE story here:  https://www.people2u.com.au/news/don-ing-the-red-and-blue-on-the-world-stage/

History was made this morning for one of our smallest island nations - Niue!  Heavyweight boxer Duken Williams made history for Niue when he beat his opponent - Cook Islander Michael Schuster - in the Quarter finals to be guaranteed a Bronze medal. 

It will be the first time Niue has ever won a Commonwealth Games medal.

He now faces Samoan Heavyweight contender Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali in the Semi-final.  Ato is also chasing Gold this time round after taking Silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

* Photo above:  Duken Williams after making history this morning for Niue in his Quarterfinal.   Photo Credit:  Express & Star 

Many of our Commonwealth Games teams wound up their campaign last night - so who is left to cheer on this weekend?  We've got the deets for you below.

NB:  All times given below are in NZT

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COOK ISLANDS 

The Cook Islands Triples Womens Lawn Bowls team have made the semi-final!  They take on England from 7.30pm 

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Fiji, Kiribati & Tuvalu's athletes have all finished competing in their respective events.…more

We're over half way through the games now and Samoa are currently leading the medal tally for the Pacific Islands with 1 Gold and 3 Silver by way of their weightlifters. 

Fiji currently have the double silver from their Fiji Rugby 7s teams & a bronze in Weightlifting, Papua New Guinea has a Silver in Weightlifting and Nauru managed to bag a Bronze in weightlifting before they finished their Commonwealth Games campaign too.

Catch up on our weekend wrap here  and the Pacifics first Gold medal here 

It's been a busy couple of days for our Pasifika athletes so we've got results & who to look out for as we head into the weeekend for you below.

NB all times indicated below are in NZT.

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COOK ISLANDS 

Alex Beddoes is the Cook Islands sole track athlete and ran his 800m heat yesterday with a season best time of 1:52.72

Kuki boxer Tawhiri Toheriri-Hallet went down to Cyprus' Rafail Pafios over the weekend but you can check out his story in the video below.…more