Australia is looking forward to having an increased presence at next month's Pacific Games in Samoa.
The 2019 event in Apia, which features 26 sports, is just the second time Australia and New Zealand have been invited to attend.
Australia finished sixth on the medals table in Port Moresby four years ago, with 17 gold, 19 silver and 11 bronze, despite only being invited to compete alongside New Zealand in four sports: weightlifting, taekwondo, sailing and rugby sevens.
Australia won thirteen medals in taekwondo at the Pacific Games in Port Moresby, in a total haul of 47 medals. Photo: Supplied
That number has been doubled in 2019 to include athletics, beach volleyball, judo and football, while archery will also hold a separate Olympic qualifier.
Chef de Mission Kenny Wallace confirmed Australia will compete in all eight sports they are eligible for.
A three-time Olympic canoeing medallist himself, Wallace said Australia is excited to be able to compete against their Pacific neighbours.
"Essentially Australia and New Zealand we are part of the Pacific so it's amazing to actually be invited to our 'own' Games as well," he said.
"It's great to have a continental Games here for us that we can compete in."
Wallace acknowledged there might be some trepidation among Pacific Island teams concerned that Australia and New Zealand's expanding Pacific Games presence could lead to the countries dominating their smaller sporting rivals.
"There's two sides to it: so if we turn up and we race and we go there and we, Australia and New Zealand, win some more medals and we potentially take some medals away from some of the smaller Pacific nations we're also giving those smaller Pacific nations the opportunity to come and race some of the best athletes in the world that Australia and New Zealand have.
"So, on the flipside, we're actually going to go there and help them get that race experience and race exposure to possibly higher performance but at the same time in certain sports we definitely need more experience in racing and training and everything else."
Australia's Chef de Mission for the 2019 Pacific Games Ken Wallace (c) competing in the men's K4 1000m semi-final during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Photo: AFP
Kenny Wallace said the Games are a chance for top Australian athletes to qualify for the Olympics and for younger athletes to gain much-needed international exposure.
"Obviously we're going to send over the athletes that need the qualifying points for Tokyo or we're going to do everything that we can to get them over there," he said.
"But I know, in regards to the sailors, the sailors are going to be quite young that we're sending over so they're going to go over there and learn from a valuable experience."
Wallace said Australia is not setting any specific medal targets and simply want to perform to their best in every event.
"Medals are great to come home with but we want the athletes to go there and have their best performance, whether it's a personal best or however they did their warm-ups and start learning from all these races that they have.
"It's a stepping stone - Pacific Games is a standalone event on its own but there is also the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games - there are so many events - and this is just another one they want to go there and do their best with."
"It's going to be quite a younger team that we're sending over," Wallace explained. "We were lucky enough to compete at the 2015 Pacific Games - we had about 40 athletes or so - and we're looking to have about 60 athletes competing over in Samoa coming up so it's going to be great to get them over there," he said.
"The people on the team they're really excited to get over there and it's another international competition."
Apia Park will host the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2019 Pacific Games. Photo: Samoa 2019 Pacific Games
