Six months of sacrifice has paid off for Apolonia Vaivai who won gold in the women’s 75kg category at the 2016 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Malaysia last Friday.

The Tavuki, Taveuni, native spent a lot of time away from her family in trying to prepare for the competition.

And she also gave up drinking alcohol, kava and smoking in order to achieve her dreams.

“It’s almost a year now that I’ve been staying away from my families in Taveuni and we only contact each other by telephone. But sometimes I feel that it’s not enough so I gave up alcohol, kava and smoking.

“I strongly believe that if only we sacrifice and physically prepare ourselves well I will do my family proud.

“All this has finally paid off and I want to thank the Lord for giving me the strength to overcome all the challenges.”

The 25-year-old made her teammates proud after lifting her best in her first attempt in the snatch with the lift of 93kg. She repeated the performance in the clean and jerk.

“Before the competition I was confident I will win the gold medal. I did and I feel so happy and I thank God for giving me the strength to make my teammates, family and country proud.”

Vaivai believes participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics boosted her performance.