The pictures of Ria Kumar (Xavier College) and twins Katarina and Elisabeta (Napuka Secondary) would have lifted the spirit and touched the heart of any sport follower.

Seeing Indian girls on the tracks these days has becoming rare. I remember years back Tilesh Naidu of Nadi winning the senior boys blue ribbon event.

Since then the 100m finals have been dominated by iTaukei children. Seeing Ria compete in the subjunior girls 400m and 800m gives me hope that more Indian athletes would follow suit.

Well done Ria! My best wishes and prayers that you grab a medal for your mother!

The beauties from Napuka, on the other hand, took part in the junior girl’s javelin event and in the process Katarina set a new record of 43.97m.

Elisabeta grabbed the silver medal. My two kaivata have done the province of Cakaudrove proud.

Then there was the story of brave Shawntell Lockington who won gold in the junior girl’s high jump despite a niggling injury. She came close to breaking the record but fell short.

Jasper and ACS look top bets in the girls division while Natabua, RKS, Marist and QVS should fight tooth and nail for a top finish in the boys division. Exciting times indeed!

I miss veteran commentator Satish Narain when it comes to the Fiji finals. However, the current crew on Fiji One and FBC so far have done well. Congratulations Fiji One for 22 years of live coverage. The “voice of soccer” Raymond, Vashneel and Indra had a wonderful outing on FBC.

Looking at the winners on day 1, one can say that the standard of the Fiji finals has thrived and so has the ability of the smaller schools to overcome hurdles and compete with the bigger schools that have the necessary resources and funds.

Just a request to the organisers, can we help the athletes without track shoes. Seeing all our athletes run next year on the tracks with track shoes will be exciting! To the winners, a job well done!

To those who didn’t win, there’s always a second time.