Sports Review

He's Fiji's Olympic

Sprint Hope

(From Norman Baxter, in Suva) FIJI’S Olympic Games sprint hope, Sitiveni Moceidreka, belies the literal translation of his surname—at least as far as his form on the track is concerned. His father, or it may have been his mother, may have been asleep in a ship round about the time Sitiveni first saw the light of day for Moceidieka means “sleep in the hold” (of a ship).

Sitiveni may not bring any gold medals back to Fiji from Rome, in fact he may not even be there unless a public appeal for funds succeeds, but this won’t be the fault of his trainer, Eric Harrington.

Harrington has taken the 23-year old Fijian under his wing. Apart from giving him proper coaching, he has persuaded his wife to serve Sitiveni meals appropriate for an athlete in training for an important event.

He believed that Sitiveni’s normal diet was deficient in protein, so to make it up he has Mrs. Harrington serve Sitiveni a thick juicy steak at least once a day. The result has not been an increase in weight, but a considerable increase in strength and stamina.

Harrington will be going to Mel bourne soon and plans to take Sitiveni to give him a couple of weeks’ training on cinder tracks.

Athletic officials in Fiji are con vinced that after a few runs under something approaching Olympic conditions Sitiveni will be capable of giving the best of them a fright over the 100 and 220 metres events.

Sitiveni comes from a somewhat parochial area as far as sport is

concerned, and if he does not » to Rome it will not be becaui ardent supporters in his own N Viti Levu have failed to ran enough cash.

In everyday life Sitiveni is senior refueller in the employ J the Vacuum Oil Company at Nai Airport.

It Was Rough

Football

FORGET about the ball, let I get on with the game” was fairly apt description of Rugl football in Tonga and Samoa on a few years ago, but under ove seas influence the players gradual became more sophisticated. But ihi must have reverted to type to son extent a month or so ago when tl NZ Maoris went to a “picnic” toi of those territories.

Judging by the appearance j some of the Maori warriors wh( they returned to New Zealand th( must have been in one of tl toughest tours ever.

But they made no complain about their opponents—after all tl Maori is no lilywhite on the Rugl field, as NSW and British teat will testify. But injuries were i heavy on the six-week tour that tl Maoris were reduced to only j available players for the test again Tonga, and half of these were unf No wonder the Maoris took a towe ling at Nukualofa.

Only one match in the two ten tories ended with the Maoris ha' ing the full complement of I players on the paddock. One play returned home with a broken le and another had a glorious blai eye.

It Was Discr

They Claimed

r[E cry of racial discriminatic was heard again in Po Moresby, in June, where only few months previously the Po Moresby Basketball Association h£ been criticised for racial prejudt —unfairly as it turned out—for ing rejected applications by tv native teams to play in a Europea competition (Sports Review, April Basketball was again the soun of the June trouble, which mac headlines in Australian Pres This time the discrimination c~y ws raised against Port Moresby’s Kor Club, a social club for Administi\

Sprint hope Sitiveni Moceidreka.

officers at Konedobu, Port ■esby’s administrative hea d rters. he charges followed the club’s isal to allow a native team to its basketball court. One of the >’s two European teams had ;ht to use the court to play Lnst the native team, fter all the fuss had built to a iax, the club’s president, Mr. is Normoyle, an old New Guinea id who also happens to be P-NG ice Commissioner, explained that trouble had started not from ;rimination but simply from the : that the club’s by-laws banned of club facilities to all but mcial members. i any case no official application I been made to the club for a

match between the European and native team on the club’s court.

An individual member of the team had merely approached several com mitteemen to ascertain their re action to an application, and he had been told about the by-law. The committee had previously refused use of the court for the same reason to a team of women basketball players, who happend to be Euro peans.

Added Mr. Normoyle: “It is most likely that if official application is received for a correctly sponsored competition team under the auspices of the Port Moresby Association, it would be approved.”

What many Port Moresby people were wondering was where all these allegations of sport discrimination kept coming from.

Papua Are The

Tennis Champs

(From Pat Robertson, in Lae) k S Australian players dominate A the world amateur tennis titles, so Papuan players dominate the Papua-New Guinea titles —or they did this year anyhow. The cham pionships were played at Lae before an enthusiastic gallery.

Peter Frankland, of Port Moresby, beat his team mate, John Trama, 6-2, 6-2, to win the Territory’s singles championship and Mrs.

Shirley Bullock, of Port Moresby, won the women’s singles from Mrs.

Jane Sloot, of Lae, 6-1, 6-2.

Frankland partnered Bob Daniels (Porf Moresby), to win the men’s doubles from Trama and Arthur Bullock, also of Port Moresby. And mixed doubles went to Mr. and Mrs.

Bullock, after defeating the Bulolo (NG) pair, Jim Muir and Mrs. B.

Lega.

[?]ew Zealand Maoris [?]s so successful [?] their rugby in [?] but they won all [?] matches, includ [?] the two tests, in [?] Samoa. Here [?] are being intro [?] to West Samoa's [?] appointed High [?] missioner Mr. J. B. [?] it, before the first [?] at Apia Park. See story.

left, P-NG tennis champs Mrs. Shirley Bullock and Peter Frankland.