Race is on!
The organisers of the 2023 Coca-Cola Games were beaming with smiles and confidence as day one concluded.
I was impressed with the performances of the athletes in the long distance finals and 400m heats.
This afternoon, eyes will be on the 100m finals and the blue ribbon event which was won by Waisale Inoke and Kesaia Boletakanakadavu of MGM High School.
In the senior girls’ Kesaia, who will be defending her title, stole the show in the heats.
In the senior boys division, Suva Grammar School’s Semesa Caginivalu is the top bet, but then come the Coca-Cola Games things become unpredictable as the battle for the blue ribbon heats up.
Day one went well, thanks to the sponsors (Lawrence Tikaram and his team), officials and athletes plus the old scholars and parents and guardians.
As elders, we must ensure kids enjoy the three-day event and return home with fond memories.
All the best for day two!
I thank The Fiji Times sports journalists for covering stories on less popular schools.
These stories rocked.
Rajnesh Ishwar Lingam, Nadawa, Nasinu
Fiji Finals medals
The first day of the Coca-Cola Fiji Finals for the secondary school athletes got off to a great start yesterday.
Fred Wesley, the editor-in-chief said in a message to me that the weather in Suva was bright and sunny to which I responded that its known as “awesome mausam!”
By the time I penned this letter, RKS was leading the boys’ division with a gold and silver while Naitasiri Secondary and Adi Cakobau School had two golds each in the Girls division.
Other schools on The Fiji Times unofficial medal tally were St Vincent’s College, Natabua High, Korovutu College, QVS and Sigatoka Methodist in the boys’ division with a gold apiece.
St Joseph’s had a gold, two silvers and a bronze while Jasper Williams and Thomas Baker Memorial had a gold each in the girls’ division.
But what inspired me the most was the results for the 1500m senior boys where three Western schools dominated the medal tally.
Vishant Reddy of Korovutu College bagged the gold, Makesh Nand of Ba Sanatan College took the silver while Arjun Gounder of Lautoka Central College got the bronze.
Congratulations to all the place getters for the first day of the Coke Games.
Dinesh Kumar, Ba
Rugby preparations
With the 2023 Rugby World Cup in just under five months, how is our preparation going?
Are we on track, especially given that a new national coach was recently appointed?
It’s anybody’s guess but the clock is ticking away swiftly and all hopes are on our rugby head office and national coaching panel.
Most of all the players selected will need nothing less than the best of our support.
Let’s save the best for the last and spring a few surprises come Rugby World Cup.
I look forward with much anticipation to the selection of players from our Fijian Drua side as there are a few who continue to impress with their performances and have their eyes on the world cup tournament.
Floyd Robinson, FSM
Dams run low
The Fiji Times reporting on “Dams run low” FT26/4 is a serious concern as it will leave the consumers with more struggles.
Blame Energy Fiji Ltd, mother nature, or the Government?
Tahir Ali, Hamilton, New Zealand
Unresolved cases
Could the COMPOL cast an eye on several unresolved murder cases in the country?
Some of them look like simple and straightforward cases to the common man but remain unresolved.
Ajai Kumar, Nadi
Nadi airport
There has been encouraging news about tourism arrivals picking up and about Fiji Airways recently starting direct flights to and from Vancouver.
Tourism Fiji is working on new slogans to showcase how nice Fiji is.
For those who regularly travel abroad it’s obvious that Nadi airport is far too small to accommodate the volume of travellers and their luggage, more so if two flights happen to arrive at the same time.
For those waiting to board, the waiting area is crowded and food outlets boring.
Anyway, this is part of a longer-term strategy needed and not the subject of this letter.
What I am suggesting is to remedy a more pressing situation and that is to reduce the long queues at the immigration counters.
The worst welcome to Fiji is to get off a long-haul flight and then queue up in the covered walkway, not even in the main area.
This is worse for families with young kids or the elderly.
Many people are not even aware that there are special counters for Fijian passport holders or for transits and do not need to remain at the end of the queue.
May I suggest that more booths and terminals be set up inside.
There is one whole wall facing the tarmac that could accommodate 4-6 counters and could speed up the whole process.
It would be a small investment against huge sums spent on advertising.
I’m sure supervisors can easily set up a staff rotation schedule based on times of flight arrivals.
The other suggestion is to have an officer guiding arrivals and telling them where to go, with some preference to young families and the elderly.
This would give a very good impression to travellers.
Finally, while our officers at immigration are very patient, efficient and need to show some sternness, how about a “bula” and a “have a nice stay” at the end!
Bernard Chandra, Nasoso, Nadi
After politics
Former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern is heading off to Harvard University after stepping down from politics for some quiet reflection and sharing her leadership knowledge.
Perhaps our own former PM Voreqe Bainimarama should do the same.
Rajend Naidu, Sydney, Australia
Thank you
I would like to say thank you Higgins for starting to repair the potholes at Uni Fiji Saweni.
Lance Millar, Simla, Lautoka
Pension issue
Congratulations on the appointment of two board members in FNPF to represent the interest of workers, something which has been lacking in the past 16 years.
Members can now hopefully look forward to this superannuation entity focussing on one of its core functions which is to look after the interests of pensioners other than paying the fixed monthly pension and forgetting about them until the next payment.
Despite the high inflation rates which depreciate the value of the pension payments annually, the fund has not been innovative in thinking outside the box and addressing this biggest weakness in the pension system which has relegated some towards poverty.
Just saying.
Emosi Balei, Suva
Who’s worthy?
YESTERDAY’S headline summed up the Coke Game event, drawing more attention with the title “Who will be kings, queens of the track” (FT 27/04 Page 1).
RODNEY CLARENCE RAJ, Naleba, Labasa
Plants pruned
Finally the plants are getting pruned near Navutu roundabout area, thanks LCC.
If only your team can do things without people complaining.
Geoffrey Chand, Lautoka
Another term?
Since WAF will need another five years to at least fix things up to a large extent, does this discreetly mean that the present government will need another term?
This reminds me of that Singapore story.
Mohammed Imraz Janif, Natabua, Lautoka
Bad weather
We (here in the Navua region) are experiencing some bad tempered weather and I am really worried about the Coca-Cola Games.
Just a safety warning to everybody; Stay safe when planning to watch the games, with this kind of weather, chances of getting a flu is very high.
KELEPI DAKUIYACO, Waikalou, Serua
Thurston Gardens
On page 22 of 25/4/2023, The Fiji Times, a beautiful photo of part of Suva City’s Thurston Gardens is displayed.
The first sentence of the accompanying article says: “Thurston Gardens is the botanical garden of Fiji”.
Absolutely true!
In this regard, may entreat the Minister for Local Government and Housing, pursuant to Section 5 (1) of the Town Planning Act Cap. 139, to uphold the many appeals against the decision of the director of Town and Country Planning in approving the rezoning of part of Thurston Gardens from Designated Use: Recreation Space to Special Use: Embassy. As a matter of fact, Premila Kumar, the former Minister for Local Government and Housing, indicated on Thursday, November 25, 2021, that the decision had been made that the embassy would not be built in or around Thurston Gardens.
Please the substantive minister, uphold the many appeals.
The other diplomatic process to follow is to advise the agency that actually performs the initial process of rezoning to withdraw the initial action.
Finally, the lease of the whole land area of Thurston Gardens is to be returned to the Suva City Council.
Pita K. Nacuva, Griffith Place, Namadi Heights, Suva
Water(less) authority
Only in Fiji can our one and only water utility provider, tell the Fijian people of issues and problems that were prevalent 16 years ago and mention that it is a problem today.
An authority on any one subject is supposedly an expert on that particular subject or field.
Fiji should change the name of our water provider to the Waterless Authority of Fiji.
The continuation of water shut downs has increased the number of water leakages on Suva’s roads.
We have two on Mead Rd, two on Rewa St, one on Vunakece Rd in Namadi and a lot more which I am sure consumers in the Navua-Suva-Nausori corridor can verify.
They definitely are an authority on providing no water.
How can WAF justify shutting down water and then spending more money on fixing burst water mains along our roads?
In a country surrounded by water, Fiji has no water.
That is what the Waterless authority is trying to tell us.
And the infrastructure to fix this problem was prevalent 16 years ago, however, we have to bear the brunt of this problem today.
Can the Waterless Authority of Fiji, please re-hire experienced retired staff to return to work to manage the shutdowns?
It would be a cheaper alternative then digging up our newly tarsealed roads and contributing to Fiji’s already bad road image.
And can they tap into our tertiary institution academics and individuals for ideas and innovations to solve this problem?
The Pacific Ocean is a potential alternative source of water, just saying!
Epeli Rabua, Loloma St, Tamavua, Suva
Some thoughts
For austerities sake.
All government ministers, government appointed board chairs and members, local government administrators and government statutory board appointees; work at minimum wage.
Tell them to use their own vehicles and pay for their own petrol, get all of them to attend meetings via Zoom/Skype/Viber/Messenger and not Tinder.
Only travel economy.
No frivolous trips to sports events and such.
Watch it on TV like everybody else.
If you watch it livestream, have the decency to pay for the internet from your own pocket.
Grog is absolutely your care.
Not from the petty cash.
Including the black or white X, mango/pawpaw skin, Chinese lolly and lolly pop.
There you go Sandeep.
Some edits, a bit of adds but the gist remains.
Manoj Lal Patel, Drasa Ave., Lautoka
