What’s on – Friday, July 10

Blind side snipe: action from the men’s rugby 7s match between Fiji and Papua Guinea. Photo by Dave Buller.

PORT MORESBY, July 9 – Gold medals in 20 events across seven different sports will be up for grabs at the Port Moresby 2015 Pacific Games on Friday.

Rugby 7s climaxes with the playoff rounds, including medal matches in both the men’s and women’s competition, where Fiji and Australia respectively look the teams to beat for gold.

The women’s gold medal match is scheduled for 18:58 while the men’s will kick off at 19:49.

From 18:01 onwards, six gold medal events in swimming will be held at Taurama Aquatic Centre in BSP Arena.

Men’s 50m freestyle, 200m butterfly and 100m backstroke will be decided while women compete in 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley, and 4x200m freestyle relay.

After a short break, the sport of va’a – also known as outrigger canoe – shifts from the Lancron Naval Base sprint course to Ela Beach for the first of two days of long distance events.

Friday sees two single person events: the women’s V1 10km starting at 07:00 and the men’s V1 15km race at 08:30.

Shooting also continues at the June Valley Shooting Range, with the sole event of the day, the mixed single barrel final slated for 16:00.

This is a ‘down the line’ discipline of clay target shooting and Fiji’s Glenn Kable has been dominating these shotgun events in Pacific Games competition since 2003.

Weightlifting may be over, but the strongmen and women continue their fine work at powerlifting, where gold medals in six different weight divisions – four men’s and two women’s – will be decided.

Action begins at 09:00 in the PNG Power Dome with the women’s -84kg class.

Friday also sees the last of the table tennis action at the 2015 Pacific Games with the men’s and women’s singles gold and bronze medal matches being played at Caritas Technical Secondary School.

For fans of fast-paced action, the final touches will go on the mixed competition of Port Moresby 2015’s touch footy tournament at Bisini Grounds.

The semifinals are scheduled for 12:00, and the bronze and gold medal matches for 14:00 and 15:00 respectively.

Papua New Guinea are in line for a trifecta of touch footy gold, having beaten Samoa in both men’s and women’s finals on Tuesday.

The two countries look set to meet again on Friday after their mixed teams drew 7-7 in the round robin phase on Thursday afternoon.

By Dr Pilipus Garpet, Games News Service