With the 2026 Commonwealth Games cycle approaching, Athletics Fiji used the Oceania Cup in Tonga as a competitive checkpoint.
Oceania Athletics identified and invited five-athletes from Fiji as members of the contingent within Team Melanesia and were able to track outcomes against recent form from the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau.
The Oceania Cup is a team-format meet staged by the Oceania Athletics Association, featuring squads from Tonga, Australia, New Zealand, Regional Australia, Hawaii, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, with up to 10 men and 10 women per team.
The 2025 event ran from 29 October to 1 November at Teufaiva Sports Stadium, Nuku’alofa.
Fiji’s athletes, Errol Qaqa (110m hurdles), Sereana Viriviri (long/high jump), Maryann Macedru (shot put), Samuela Vunivalu (long/triple jump) and Loata Lewageena (discus/javelin) along with Para athletes Naibili Vatunisolo and Jimi Onitoro competed as Team Melanesia alongside Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Norfolk Island, with team management by Fiji’s Vaciseva Tavaga and PNG’s Brett Green; Tavaga served as an assistant sprints coach during the Palau outing.
Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia were fully funded by Oceania AA, with selections based on nominations from national federations and recent performances.
Results in Tonga provided measurable data points.
•Vunivalu won the men’s long jump at 7.05m and took triple jump bronze at 13.21m.
•Macedru placed second in the women’s shot put at 14.56m.
•Qaqa won the 110m hurdles in 14.86 seconds.
•Lewageena was second in both women’s javelin (44.05m) and discus (43.50m).
•Viriviri finished fourth in the women’s long jump (5.21m) and high jump (1.45m).
•Para-athletes Jimi Onitoro (400m, long jump, 60m; all personal bests) and Naibili Vatunisolo (shot put) won their events
•Heleina Young was selected but was unable to travel due to medical reasons.
The Oceania Cup also offered a comparative lens with Palau. Fiji’s Palau campaign emphasized depth, with 30 athletics medals across disciplines, while the smaller Tonga delegation produced eight medals from five athletes, with around half recorded as personal bests.
Event-to-event continuity was mixed: Qaqa repeated his hurdles win but ran slower in Tonga’s windy conditions (14.44s in Palau to 14.86s in Tonga).
Horizontal jumps showed the sharpest movement – after missing the Palau podiums, Vunivalu’s 7.05m secured long jump gold in Tonga and added triple jump bronze.
Para-athletes maintained a clean sweep of the events Fiji entered in Tonga.
Australia won the Oceania Cup with 231 points, ahead of Melanesia (183) and Polynesia (173.50).
For FASANOC and Team Fiji, the Tonga results achieved in a team-format, points-driven environment, with selections tied to recent performances and Oceania AA support serve as a mid-cycle reference for athlete readiness and event priorities before the next Commonwealth Games campaign.
Fiji’s Samuela Vunivalu in flight in the Men’s Triple Jump at Oceania Cup in Tonga.
Picture: Oceania Athletics
