Avaiki 1 rugby 7’s team were crowned champions of the inaugural Central 7’s tournament on Saturday at the Panatina rugby oval. Despite going down 10-nil in the first half, Avaiki made a strong come back in the final 10 minutes to score 3 unconverted tries to defeat Laupel (1) 15-10 in the wet and slippery conditions.

The defending champions of the Namson Tran Touch Rugby League, the Rover Frigates are gunning for a repeat win this year as the race for the 2010 title heats up.
The frigates began their title defense in style on Saturday with a clean sweep, 8-0(nil) victory against Kiki Knights at the Rover Police ground.

Officials from the National Olympic Committee have called on provincial officials who are intending to bid for the 2013 Solomon Games to prepare their bidding documents. NOCSI says provinces must prepare their documents now before the start of the Solomon Games in Auki later this year.

The national Olympic committee of Solomon Islands, NOCSI is pleased with the progress of preparation made by the Solomon games local organizing committee in Auki, who will be hosting the 4th Solomon Games in June this year. A technical team from NOCSI lead by President Fred Maetoloa visited Auki last week to see firsthand the preparation of sporting facilities and held discussion with provincial leaders including the Premier and the organizing committee. After the assessment the team has given the go ahead for Malaita province to host the games.

Honiara Rugby Union Association is yet to decide the starting date for their league in Honiara. President Brian Pongotapu says his executive will meet before any date can be set to the kick off the 2010 rugby union league.

A three man panel has been established by the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands, to deal with the selection of their new Chief Executive Officer. The panel consist of Vice President Solidarity Fujiyama Naoyuki, Vice President Women in Sports Noelyn Luahiti and Aldrine Bekala from the national tennis federation. The position was left vacant since Fred Maetoloa’s executive came into power last year.

Golfers in Honiara took to the Randi golf course on Saturday for the annual Waitangi golf competition. Organized in the mix, individual and stable ford categories, the competition is organize as part of the celebrations to marked Waitangi Day in Honiara.

The Solomon Islands Touch Rugby is planning to send a development team to Queensland in May this year. This follows an invitation from the Queensland State Tough rugby. While executives finalise the travel arrangements the touch federation will use the first round of the 2010 Namson Tran league to identify potential players for the development squad.

The Annual Aviaki Challenges is scheduled to take place on February 16. Every year the Avaiki Challenge features a rugby tournament for teams from Rennel and Bellona. In a change to the format, this year's challenge will also include a netball competition in what is expected to be the biggest Avaiki Challenge since its inception 10-years-ago.

National sprinter Jack Iroga has been selected to represent Solomon Islands at the IAAF World Indoor championship in Doha, Qatar in March. Iroga was selected based on his previous sprinting record of 10:98 secs because Athletics Solomon’s was not able to stage its 60 meter national trials due to bad weather.

The national sports council (NSC) has developed and adopted a strategic Competition structure in the hope of developing sports in the country to newer heights. The structure which is set for implementation by all nine provinces this year provides athletes a number of sports events before reaching the Solomon Games stage.

A new interim executive committee has been appointed to administer the Solomon Games this year. They will be responsible the setting of rules and regulations to govern the running of the Solomon Games and to liaise with the government for assistance.

Athletics Solomon has rescheduled its trials for the 60 meters sprint event for Monday 25th January at the KG VI athletics Oval, instead of tomorrow Saturday 23rd. However it all depends on the weather. The Federation will use the trial to identify its fastest runner for 13th IAAF world indoor championship in March 12 – 14 in Doha United Arab Emirates.

Over the years Solomon Islands has witnessed the rise of new talents in football, athletics, weightlifting and lawn tennis to name a few. This year the development continues with young tennis star Ian Honila who has been awarded a scholarship to further his tertiary studies and to play tennis in the United States.

The country’s newest entrant into the mobile service Be-mobile has vowed to provide better services not only in communication but also in supporting sports events. Be-mobile’s chief executive officer Julien Coustavry made this assurance when speaking to One News yesterday. The CEO, who is a big soccer fan himself, says he believes supporting sports would play a major role in their communication strategies.

Athletics Solomon Islands is vowing to improve its medal haul at the next South Pacific Games in New Caledonia. The association says this can only be achieved by organizing more local competitions and sending of more athletes to regional championships this year.

Under the Australian sports outreach program members from the team will be traveling to either Gizo or Noro after returning from NOCSIs junior program in Auki. The team will be introducing the sports to juniors in the selected area. This is to enable the tennis federation to successfully introduce the sports hold mini competitions and also to identify talents. The planned program will run for one week but the location for the program is yet to be.

 
A total of five junior elite tennis players have recently returned after successfully competing at the Oceania elite tennis camp in Fiji.
Among the people who attended the elite camp is Oceania coach coordinator Benjamin Joel. At the tennis meet two of our tennis players managed to finish on top of their respective pools.

 With the success of the NOCSIs recent junior sports program in the central islands province plans are in place for the team to travel to Auki next year. The junior sports program is being carried out by NOCSI after the initiative was given to NOCSI by IOC under the world athletes plan.

The National Olympic  junior program has been hailed a success. 

The program hosted by the National Olympic Committee in the Central Islands province attracted a good number of participants.