Winning start

to the year

Geua Tau got the year off to a winning start for the Pacific women. The 32-year-old Port Moresby housewife won Papua New Guinea’s first ever Common wealth Games gold medal in the women’s singles bowls.

Geua’s victory also stamped her name forever in the Pacific’s sports hall of fame: first ever gold medal by a female Pacific athlete from the Islands (she was pipped by five days by Nauru’s Marcus Stephen

in weightlifting).

On her way to the winner’s podium, Geua beat the world’s best. She over came defending champion, Wendy Line of England, and the eventual bronz meddalist, Margaret Johnston of North ern Ireland.

To make the final, Geua thrashed the world champion, Janet Ackland of Wales.

Her success was all the more remark able because Papua New Guinea only boasts about 200 women bowlers, and only 18 at Geua’s cllub, Boroko. She says what the female bowlers lack in compe tition, they make up in the aggressiveness by sharpening their skills in games against their men. bier husband and coach, Tau Tau, describes his wife as “a pretty cool player”. And it was that coolness, even under pressure, which helped Geua take the gold by out-drawing the New Zealand favourite Millie Khan in front of a huge and noisily partisan Auckland crowd.

Khan, who went on to be voted New Zealand Sports Personality of the Year, later commented: “She could have won standing on her head.” □

Geua Tau: into the hall of fame