Fiji breaks records at Commonwealth Championships

Fiji won a total of 8 Gold medals, 3 in the Commonwealth Championships and 5 in the Oceania Championships in Gold Coast, Australia.

The Fiji Women's team of Apolonia Vaivai and Eileen Cikamatana finished on top of the Gold medal tally alongside India with two gold medals each in the Senior Women's Commonwealth Championships.

A total of 35 Countries took part in the Commonwealth Championships.

Between Apolonia Vaivai and Eileen Cikamatana they set a total of seven Oceania and two Commonwealth records.

Eileen set four new Senior and Junior records in the Clean and Jerk lift in the 90Kg class for both the Commonwealth and Oceania.

Apolonia Vaivai set five new Oceania records in the Snatch, Clean and Jerk and total, breaking the oldest Oceania Records set in the year 2000.

In the Commonwealth Senior and Junior Championships, Eileen won two Gold Medals in the 90Kg while Apolonia won the Senior 69Kg weight division in very tough competitions.

In the Oceania Championships, Eileen won two Gold Medals, Apolonia won the Gold in 69Kg, Manueli Tulo the 56Kg Gold and Poama Qaqa won the 62Kg Junior Gold.

This was the 9th Gold medal that Manueli Tulo has won in the Oceania Championships since 2010 to become the second most prolific all‑time performer.

Poama also won two bronze medals – in the 62Kg Commonwealth Junior and Oceania Senior.

Taniela Rainibogi won a silver in the Oceania Junior and a bronze in the Oceania Senior in the 85Kg weight division.

In winning her Gold medal, Apolonia won a Commonwealth Title for 3 years in a row.

She had previously won the Gold Medals in the 75Kg weight categories at the Commonwealth Championships in Pune, India in 2015 and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2016.

Apolonia Vaivai was declared the best senior female lifter in the Oceania Championships. Eileen won the best female junior lifter in both the Commonwealth and Oceania Junior competitions.

With performances so far this year, Eileen is ranked World Number one in the Junior and in the top three in the World in the Senior Rankings in the 90Kg.

Apolonia is in the top eight in the world in the senior 69Kg.

Meanwhile, all the lifters now have to await the completion of all ranking tournaments by end of October before the number of lifters confirmed for the Commonwealth Games is revealed.