Varasiko Tubananuku Promises to Do Better
Ba Methodist High School sprinter Varasiko Tubananuku took out the boy’s blue-ribbon event during the Ba Secondary Schools Athletic Zone meet at Churchill Park in Lautoka yesterday.
The Navala, Ba native did equal the zone record with a time of 10.90s, in the heats earlier in the day. The time was set in 2006 by Netani M of DAV College.
He clocked a time of 11.07s in the final ahead of Jone Raiyawa of Xavier College (11.66s) while teammate Sailasa Naicegu settled for bronze.
For the first time the Year 13 student ran on the synthetic track but has been a regular participant in the past years but did not make it to the Coca-Cola Games.
“I’m happy to win the gold, but I did not expect to equal the record in the heats I just tried to run,” he said.
“This is the first time to run on the tracks so it was great. I will try to improve my time by training harder to better my personal best. I had been training for the rugby league competition all this while.”
Adi Ranadi of AD Patel College took out gold in the senior girl’s 100m final ahead of Xavier College’s Sainiana Nuibalavu and Mereani Galo.
The Nailaga, Ba native has been a regular face in the Coke Games since 2015 where she won a silver medal in the long jump sub-junior but however failed to win a medal in the 100m.
“I want to win a gold at the Cokes, an ultimatum for any athlete in Fiji. There is a lot of work needed to be done.”
She will participate in the long jump today.
Another impressive athlete in the field was Jone Sukulu, 18 of Xavier College who jumped a record of 13.83 metres in his second attempt but minutes later in his final attempt he broke that record with a 13.85m jump. The silver medal went to Paula Namu (13.17m) of Nukuloa College while Inoke Sovakatini of Kamil Muslim College (12.07m) got the bronze.
The Matuku, Lau native who has maternal links to Vorovoro, in Macuata has been a regular at the nationals and have collected medals along the way.
“This year I aim to beat the national record, but I’m content with the result today and hope to break the long jump record tomorrow,” he said.
The competition continues today
Edited by Leone Cabenatabua
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