BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
THE accreditation to grant all sporting federations and their athletes the right to participate in the XVII Pacific Games 2023 still opens and will close on October 5, according to National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI) board member and Chairman of the National Selection and Justification Committee (NSJC), Morris Maitaki.
Maitaki, when speaking at the second episode of the Umi Tugeda for Sol2023/Green and Safe Honiara Talk Back Show held at the SIBC on August 27, said at the moment Team Solomon has moved into the new office at the Taj Mahal Food Café Plaza at the Central Business District in Honiara.
“I still appeal to all federations that our accreditation office is based in that team Solomon office, thus I continue to appeal to team managers, coaches, presidents, and secretaries to continue with their long list to submit the names of their team list. The closing date for accreditation is October 5th, a month before the opening of the XVII Pacific Games 2023 in Honiara.
“But before the closure, we must submit the list to the Organizing Committee for the Solomon Islands 2023 Pacific Games (SOL2O23) and the Pacific Games Council (PGC). So we need all those submissions done as soon as possible,’’ he said.
Maitaki said that the medical and physio teams are also operating in that Team Solomon office as well. “We have our doctors and physios operating there as well as for athletes to do testing, anti-doping, and other testing requirements.
“That test includes strength, speed, and fitness as part of the requirement.
“In terms of team Solomon management, we meet regularly with all team managers every Wednesday from 4 pm to 6 pm as part of updating each other, going through certain requirements that each federation should meet, advising team managers under the Terms of Reference (TOR) to play, especially looking after the welfare of the team, and other aspects in preparing the team for the games,’’ he said.
Maitaki said the NSJC would review all the listing and team preparation assessments. He also appealed to the coaches and technical officers to work with the NSJC team.
“We are continuing with our trials. We are expecting that by the end of the month every trial should be completed, and we expect all teams to be finalized by the end of the month of October,’’ Maitaki said.
He said that the NSJC continues with its testing.
“The test we are doing is mandatory for every sport. Teams and athletes will be affected if they do not undergo a test. So far, we have already tested six sporting federations in the country. We’ll also undergo some more tests in the coming weeks. I would like to thank the Solomon Islands National Institute of Sports (SINIS) for supporting us.
He said that at the end of this month (August 2023), they expect all the final squad lists. So on the 5th of October, we expect the final team list,’’ he said.
He said that the NSJC also has a technical team that goes around the Pacific Games 2023 venues.
“From now on, we will continue to monitor training camps and training programs for each sport and also witness test competitions and trials,” the Chairman of the National Selection and Justification Committee (NSJC) said.
