Team Fiji’s financial preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics has suffered a setback.

This after Tropical Cyclone Winston’s destruction in February.

Team Fiji chef de mission Cathy Wong says Cyclone Winston had certainly affected the team’s preparation in many ways.

“Finance is always an area of concern for any team preparing for any games. TC Winston has impacted the lives of athletes themselves, the families of these athletes have also been affected, the support system for these athletes have been impacted,” Ms Wong said.

Wong said Team Fiji had to do a reforecast budget in line with all the changes in the aftermath of the cyclone.

“So definitely, TC Winston has negatively impacted our preparations for Rio. But as resilient Fijians, we will gather support and assistance and train hard to be great sports ambassadors of Fiji. This is what Fiji needs right now,” she said.

Wong, who was recently appointed to a top post in Oceania Rugby, is now the Non-elected Women’s director in the regional organisation.

Along with the appointment, she says she has a few contributions and a vision she wants to fulfill with her position.

“My strength is sports science knowledge of the Pacific Islands,” she said.

“I would like to see how we can use the sport of rugby to reduce the impact of non-communicable disease (NCD) in the Pacific.”

Wong has a vision is to see Pacific Island Rugby competing with Tier One nations consistently.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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