TEAM Karate will leave no stones unturned in their bid to do Fiji proud at the Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea later this year.
The team is expected to be boosted with the inclusion of three overseas-based players when the final team is named later this month.
Team manager Laverne Qiolevu said the side had been preparing well for the tournament.
“The team have been training every two to three weeks in Suva and the athletes have also been carrying out their own personal training,” she said.
“The team will be named after our opening championship on February 22 and we currently have three overseas-based athletes who are in the squad.
Qiolevu said of the three, Anthony Yam and Sandip Pala are based in Australia while Alyssa Broadbridge is based in New Zealand.
Qiolevu said this year’s team was likely to be dominated by young players who were keen to make their mark in PNG.
“Fiji finished second behind New Caledonia at the Pacific Games 2011, finishing with 6 gold, 7 silver and 1 bronze.”
“Our target in all competitions that we send a team to has always been for athletes to perform their best when walking off the mat with no regrets”.
“In the lead up to any international, the athletes are put through rigorous training by our coaches working with our mentor based in Australia.”
“They have been working with this young team since last year and of the 18 in the squad, only seven participated at the 2011 Pacific Games, 11 are new to the Pacific Games scene as they have now moved into the senior grade however they are not new to international competitions.
“All the current squad athletes participated at the 2014 Oceania Karate Championships in Fiji.”
She said Karate Fiji was currently working to bring in their mentor from Australia in April and again in June to fine-tune the team ahead of the Pacific Games.
Qiolevu said the main obstacle faced by the team was the availability of training venue.
“Our major challenge has always been the venue, we use the Yat Sen school hall for all our trainings, however, have to share with badminton and the school activities take first priority.”
“We have scheduled all our trainings on Saturdays from 12:30pm, badminton uses the hall in the mornings.
“When the venue is not available and in order not to disrupt the training weekends, the team makes use of the National Stadium, Gym and Aquatic Centre to go through their fitness drills,” she added.
