Papua New Guinea emerged as the winner of the Pacific Games medals table for the second time in the history as their athletes produced another outstanding performance on the final day of competition at Port Moresby 2015.
As well as the six titles they fortified in boxing, the hosts brushed the golf tournament, fastening all four available golds, and added another two in beach volleyball and the men’s half-marathon. The hosts claimed an overall total of 87 gold medals, easily ahead of New Caledonia and Tahiti on 55 and 38 respectively.
The last time Papua New Guinea had ended top of the medals table was in 1991, the last occasion they were held in Port Moresby, with 44 golds. New Caledonia had finished top in the five Pacific Games since then, including at Nouméa four years ago, winning a record 120 gold medals.
The day started well as Kipsy Busamo clocked 1 hour 14min 11sec to clinch the men’s half-marathon crown, crossing the line ahead of Tahiti’s Georges Richmond and Fiji's Avikash Lal. In the women’s race, Sharon Firisua of Solomon Islands sealed a hat-trick of Port Moresby 2015 golds as she added the half-marathon crown to the 5,000 metres and 10,000m crowns she won earlier in the week.
On a packed day of action with medals bestowed in eight sports, Papua New Guinea’s golfers were in formidable form as Soti Dinki overhauled Cook Islands’ William Howard at the top of the men’s leaderboard with a final round of two-over-par. Howard’s 10-over-par round consigned him to silver, while New Caledonia's defending champion Adrien Peres took bronze.
Papua New Guinea then went on to reinforce their supremacy by clinching both team golds on offer. Kristine Seko led from start to finish to win the women’s gold medal, four shots ahead of Elmay Viking of Cook Islands, with New Caledonia’s Arianne Klotz taking bronze.
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