More Competition Beneficial Says Coach Fred

Para athletics coach Fred Fatiaki believes that more participation and competition among para-athletes will improve their performance and representation of Fiji at international events.

Fatiaki said he was pleased with the growing interest of para-athletes in the sport, but he faced a challenge in getting them classified according to their level of impairment.

"Classification is a process that groups para-athletes with similar levels of physical ability in order to ensure fair competition. It is done by certified classifiers who assess the athletes' impairments and assign them a sport class," he explained.

"This is to ensure that athletes with similar levels of physical ability are grouped together to allow fair competition."

"This classification is only done in either Australia or New Zealand and if we are unable to travel to these countries, than we will have to travel all the way to Paris, France for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in July, for classification."

"I have eight new athletes who need to be classified before they can compete internationally. We have approached sponsors and applied for assistance from the Fiji National Sports Commission, but we are realistic about the funding situation as it will be expensive to send eight athletes to be classified," he said.

"Despite all our athletes not being classified, the standards we put are high, but this is because we believe in our processes and in our athletes to challenge each other and go beyond what they think they can achieve," he said

"An example of this is Naibili Vatunisolo who last February participated in the shot put and threw a distance of 8.10m while the qualifying distance for the Pacific Games in seven meters."

Fred said fellow thrower, Selina Seau was throwing beyond the seven-meter distance as well and is pushing Naibili for a spot in the national team.

At the moment around 14 para-athletes are in camp at the Suva Apartments in Suva.

Fred said they had athletes from all over Fiji attending the one-week camp that will focus on pre-competition nutrition, psychological advice and other areas allowing athletes the best chance to perform at the Games.

"This is a chance to expose our new athletes to a new semiprofessional environment and hopefully learn from each other and build on our bond as a team."

Fred said they will use the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris in July to identify gaps before the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.

Team Fiji para-athletics won one gold in the Shot Put ambulant with Naibili Vatunisolo and one silver in the Javelin ambulant with Iosefo Rakesa during the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.

"Our aim is to improve on this result in Solomon Islands and that begins now”, said Fred.

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