Coco Talanoa — Sports / Page 33

Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae addresses fans at the 2019 NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony.

Mawae pays tribute to his family, coaches and teammates. Mawae reflects on his playing days at LSU. He thanks his former coach Herm Edwards who he is now an assistant coach for at Arizona State. Mawae thanks Bill Belichick for the way he challenged him throughout his Jets career.

Over 5,000 athletes from 24 of our Pacific Island nations gathered in Samoa for what they call the 'Olympics of the Pacific' - the Pacific Games 2019.

Check out why it's such an important Games for our Pacific Islands athletes.

Check out Hawaiian/Samoan UFC Fighter Max Holloways top finishes! 

Jerome "Max Blessed" Holloway is the #1 contender for the UFC Featherweight Championship belt after losing it to Alex Volkanovski in December last year.  In his previous title defence he broke the record for most significant strikes in one fight with 290, broke the record for landing 134 of those significant strikes in a round, and set the record for most victories in UFC featherweight history with fifteen.

He has earned nine performance bonuses over his 23 career UFC fights, holding division records for knockout wins with eight as well as the most stoppage victories with 10.

Polynesian Football Hall of Fame Legends Vai Sikahema, Reno Mahe & Ma'a Tanuvasa were in Auckland to check out some of the local Poly talent on offer and to help out at the NZ Down Under Bowl Team training.

Check out the highlights from the final day of the Pacific Games 2019 in Samoa! 

The Netball Bronze medal final between Samoa & Papua New Guinea and the Gold medal final between the Cook Islands and Tonga, both the Men's and Women's Football Gold Medal matches, the Women's Half Marathon and the Men's triathlon plus highlights from the Closing Ceremony.

Cover image - Photo Credit Pacific Games News Service:  Therese Rivers 

Highlights from the 2nd to last day of the Pacific Games 2019.

All 7 of Samoa's Boxers coming away with Gold, the Tonga vs Samoa netball semi, Womens Volleyball bronze match between Samoa & Wallis and Futuna plus the Gold medal final between Tahiti and New Caledonia.

Track and Field highlights included the Womens Long Jump,  Mens & Womens 400m Hurdles as well as the Men's and Women's 4x100m relay.

Photo credit for photos used in header collage - Pacific Games News Service:  Trina Edwards, Therese Rivers & Ikoke Leaitutulia

Check out more of the exciting finals in the athletics!

Men's Long Jump where Kelvin Masoe claimed a historic, first ever Gold for Samoa as well as a new national record, watch 19yr old Mosese Foliaki pick up his 2nd Gold in the 110m hurdles after taking out the Men's High Jump and all the action from the the Women's 1500m, Men's 5000m, both the Women's & Men's 110m hurdles, the 200m finals and the 4x 400m relays.

There's also Boxing and netball semi-final highlights.

Photo credit for photos used in header collage - Pacific Games News Service:  Trina Edwards & Therese Rivers 

Check out some of the Boxing matches in Savai'i, the Basketball medal matches including both Mens & Womens Gold medal finals plus the 10,000m Womens race & Alex beddoes 2nd Gold for the Cook Islands in the 1500m.

Photo credit for photos used in header collage - Pacific Games News Service:  Trina Edwards & Faaiu Leifi Levi

Commonwealth Games Silver Medalist and National boxing representative, Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali is representing Samoa at the Pacific Games.

The Boxing tournament at Don Bosco College in Saleloga, on Savai'i brings the games to the Big Island where 14 countries are competing for Gold, Silver & Bronze.  

The Pacific Games came to a close over the weekend.  12 days of sporting competition between 24 Pacific island nations, nearly 5,000 athletes, multiple sports and the biggest games so far in its history.  

Samoa has been praised for the success of the event and the standard of hosting with the President of the Pacific Games Council saying 'These games far exceeded our expectations in terms of the number of athletes participating, the arrangements made, the excellent venues provided and the very high level of competition.'

Pacific Games Director James Smith also acknowledged the Games volunteers and told the Samoa Observer that the event would not have taken off without their hard work. 

There were about 2,500 volunteers in total ranging in age from Intermediate school age children to senior adults and were allocated to different sports.

“Without the behind the scenes work, the Games won’t exist. The Games will fall on its face so we’re really pleased with the amount of support from the Government and the Public Service Commission to make this Games happen," he said.…more