Naulu carries the flag

President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau meets with FASANOC president, Vidya Lakhan and Team Fiji officials after accepting their i-tatau yesterday. Insert: Josateki Naulu (left). Photo: RONALD KUMAR

By MERE NALEBA

Judoka Josateki Naulu will be Fiji’s flag bearer during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.
National judoka reps have over the years being selected as flag bearer for the country in the past Olympic Games.
The late Viliame Takayawa did the honours  in 1984 in Los Angeles while his son Nacanieli Takayawa continues the  was also a flag bearer in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
Sisilia Rasiga Rasokisoki did the honours in 2004 in Athens, Greece.
Naulu is currently in Japan training under the watchful eyes of his coach, Takashi Iwasaki. He was nominated as the flag bearer after being the highest ranked athlete to be competing in the Olympic Games.
The 28-year-old is ranked 34th in the world out of 264 athletes from across the globe.
“Being selected to be a flag bearer is a humbling experience and anyone that  gets the honour to be standing in front of the group and leading it should do so with pride,” Nacanieli Takayawa said.
He said Naulu is now onto his final phase of preparations.
Another prominent judoka who missed out on this Olympics is Rasokisoki. However, she has opted to start her preparations for the 2016 Olympics and for the time being will be involved in coaching clinics for junior judokas.
Updates on Team Fiji athletes
Leslie Copeland and coach, James Golding have finished their two month training attachment in Saabrucken, Germany where Leslie trained under world renowned javelin coach Boris Henry.
Leslie had the opportunity of competing in events in Europe and has adjusted to the change of climate and temperature where it has been rainy and windy.  Leslie and James are now based in Preston, in the North West of the UK at the University of Central Lancashire, at a Pre Games Training Camp funded by LOCOG.
Dannielle Alakija  has been training in the USA and recently participated at the AVIVA Championships in Bedford, UK  in unfavourable weather where some races had to be re-run because of the cold and rain.
She is this week representing Fiji at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Spain and will return to the USA for her final phase of preparations with coach, Maurice Greene before joining the team in London.
Shooting – Glenn Kable is currently in Germany training and will travel to Italy next week to take part in an ISSF World Cup event Milan.
He will then travel to London to join Team Fiji at the Games Village on July 22.
Swimming – Matelita Buadromo and coach Eugene Panuve flew out of Fiji last week and are based in Preston a the Pre Games Training Centre where Leslie Copeland is. Male swimmer Paul Elaisa and swimming section manager Willie Elaisa depart this week and will join up with Matelta in Preston.  The swimming team will travel to the Games Village on July 21.
Weightlifting – Manulei Tulo and Maria Liku continue training at the Oceania Weightlifting Centre under the guidance of OWF coach Paul Coffa.
They will arrive into Nadi on July 21 where coach Josefa Vuet will meet then and train locally for two days prior to their departure on July 23 for London.  Section manager Atma Maharaj will be awaiting the team’s arrival in London.
Archery – Robert Elder is training in Korea at the Kim, Hyung-Tak Archery Training Center.  This attachment has been kindly sponsored by  Korean government through a MOU signed between the Korean Olympic Committee and FASANOC.
Section manager Richard Elder will join Robert this week in his final phase of preparation.  The duo will travel to the UK on July 16 and have a few days attachment at the PGT in Preston.

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Posted by newsroom on July 10, 2012. Filed under Fiji Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.