Goodbye 2021 And Welcome 2022

It is that time of the year again. In a few days we will be saying our goodbyes to 2021 and at the same time welcome 2022.

Already there are a lot of anticipation for 2022.

The commencement of the HSBC World Sevens Series, the Oceania Football qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup and our Swire Shipping Fijian Drua debut in the Super Rugby Pacific competition.

In actual fact it’s going to get even better as the year progresses with a possible Flying Fijians Test match against Australia and France as talks are still on going.

This is apart from the newly revised 2022 fixtures of local football, rugby, volleyball, rugby league competitions.

The competition formats are designed to make it more exciting for everyone to watch.

However, no one denies the fact that this has been a challenging year.

The pandemic caused disruption on international flights through strict quarantine protocols travellers had to adhere to.

For us, what was rewarding was the men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams medal winning performances at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.

Then the promising performance of the Flying Fijians during Test matches against the All Blacks and Wales.

Although we lost, the valuable lesson is how we stood up to their challenge.

Here’s my highlight of Best Players for 2021:

SPORTSMAN of the YEAR

Alivereti Kauyaca: The unbeaten Fijian cruiserweight champion stays grounded and earns everyone’s respect.

He does not post on social media to boast about his achievements or to issue challenges on other boxers.

In the ring he has beaten Eroni Ligaloa and the Naliva brothers- Filipino Jnr and Savenaca.

Contender: Jesé Ravudi (welterweight)

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj