BY JOHN HOUANIHAU AND JOY OFASIA
SOLOMON ISLANDS taekwondo national training team has started early preparations with optimism ahead of next year’s 2023 Pacific Games set for 19 November to 2 December 2023 in Honiara.
Early this year, the Solomon Islands Taekwondo Federation (SITF) selected 32 taekwondo athletes to undertake a six months elite scholarship program with the Solomon Islands National Institute of Sport (SINIS) High-Performance.
Solomon Islands Taekwondo Coach, Junior Maetia, 27, told RAW SPORTS that the high-performance scheduled training program is progressing well with athletes conducting ‘face-to-face sparring’ training sessions – an important training step to keep their momentum going.
Maetia said one of the areas taught to athletes under the program is how to register and counterpoints.
He said that although the training is going well as expected, the final selection would be tough because it would be conducted through competitions.
“There will be trials, we will have the provincial athletes as well, so we will not hand pick athletes but we will do the selection by competition.
“Only the winner is eligible to be selected into the final team to represent the country.
“The final squad will comprise of sixteen athletes, which will comprise of eight males and eight females athletes.
“So far so good, the training is good and the athletes are continuing their gearing up towards the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara,” he said.
The trainings are conducted on weekdays and weekends; the strength and conditioning sessions are conducted every Monday, whilst the technique and tactical sessions are every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, whereas Fridays are meant for gym sessions.
Meanwhile, Solomon Islands Taekwondo Female Coach, Lilly Lofana confirmed that there will also be a replacement competition held this Saturday for new recruitments to be selected to replace the other athletes who left the team.
“We used to have 32 taekwondo athletes but then the number decreased due to students who returned to schools so now we currently are left with 26 athletes only,” said the first Solomon Islands Female Taekwondo Instructor.
