By Renate Rivers

Samoa’s third gold, and only medal yesterday, came in the form of Margaret Satupai’s 52.05m discus throw at Noumea’s Numa Daly Stadium.

Coming off the back of a silver-medal win at the hammer-throw on Saturday, Margaret was elated to have added to the gold medal tally for Samoa.

“It’s a good feeling to bring home the gold, and a personal best in both the hammer-throw and the discus so I’m really happy.�?

Margaret beat Games favorite, Tongan Ana Pouhila – who came in second – and New Caledonian Bina Ramesh who came in third.
Her throws: 48.43m, No Throw, 51.31m, 50.90m, No Throw and then the winning 52.05m on her final attempt.

Basketball

The men’s basketball team have finally broken their losing streak with a 106-92 win over Papua New Guinea at Paita’s expansive Arena du Sud yesterday afternoon.
Currently playing for ranking positions, top point scorers were Jonathan Fesolai on 40, Flynn Fidow 20 and Meki Purcell on 16.

Notable improvements in play include increased rebounds, with Meki and Flynn notching up 10 and 11 total defensive and offensive rebounds in total.
Visibly relaxed, the team meshed well together, with a slight change in starters to include locally based players Meki and Pama , whilst overseas based players Iosefo Folasaitu and George Tuia were subbed in intermittently – allowing a free-flowing game that saw more passes translate in to a 100+ point score for the boys.

The team will now travel out to Poindimie, in the Northern Province of New Caledonia for their ranking games that will place them at either 5^th or 6^th overall.

 Other results

Under less-than-ideal windy and rainy conditions at Stade de Numa Daly, 100m sprinter Bosco Stowers progressed through to the semi-finals with a third placing 11.73secs in his heat.

In the 8^th and 9^th round of the Laser Sailing competition, Eroni Leilua finished well at 4^th and 5^th in

yesterday’s rounds to place 6^th overall. Valerie Humrich currently holds 6^th place overall with Alomoa close behind in 7^th in the women’s division. Myka Stanley is sitting at 7^th overall in the men’s division.

Rain continued to disrupts and delay play in the tennis tournament yesterday. Reinsford Penn and Marvin Soonalole won their doubles match against Tito and Bonteman of Kiribati. Leon Soonalole and Juan Langton also won, in straight sets, against the Vanuatuan duo Mara and Pineda. Both Marvin and Leon won their men’s singles matches whilst Steffi Carruthers has progressed through to the semi-finals with her straight sets victory over S.Prescott from Tonga.

Ivan Chew Lit will compete in the semi-finals after overcoming fellow teammate Alan Schwalger 3 games to 1 yesterday, whilst Chad Rankin lost in straight games to Fijian competitor Warren Yee, gold medalist from the 2007 Games.

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About the author

Renate Rivers