7 Sep 2011

Sport: New Caledonia returns to top form at Pacific games

6:32 am on 7 September 2011

New Caledonia rediscovered its gold medal winning ways on Tuesday.

The Pacific Games host picked up a handful of athletics medals at the Numa Daly Stadium and also won gold in judo, badminton and archery.

Vinnie Wylie reports.

"After a quiet start to the week New Caledonia came out of the blocks strong on Tuesday. Eric Reuillard wrapped up the men's decathlon crown, with home town victories coming also in the men's 800m and 10 000m and women's javelin. In Anse Vata the host collected five Judo titles while there was triple success next door in archery. Papua New Guinea also had strong evening on the track: Toea Wisil won the women's 100m sprint, with further gold medals coming in the men's parasport 100m and women's 800m. Fiji's Ratu Ban Abakaucoro took out the men's 100m gold, while Tahiti remain in second place on the medal tally, after winning the women's high jump and 3000m steeple-chase. And Tonga, Nauru, Kiribati and Samoa were among the weightlifting winners."