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PNG’s Paralympic athletes back from Tokyo with personal bests
Sport
JAVELIN RECORDS SET AT PARA GAMES
BY LEMACH LAVARI | PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED PNG PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE
Papua New Guinean javelin throwers Nelly Leva and Morea Mararos set personal best records at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics in August. In addition, Mararos’s best throw was a record for Oceania.
PNG sent just four people to the Paralympics, including coach Jacklyn Travetz, chef de mission Susanne Sere, Leva and Mararos, who carried the PNG flag at the opening ceremony at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium.
Mararos, 24, competing in the seated men’s javelin F34 class, threw 21.11 metres, eclipsing his personal best of 16 metres set at the 2019 World Championships in Dubai.
Leva, 32, competed in the women’s javelin F46 class, throwing 23.30 metres, a whopping five metres further than the personal best she set at the Queensland Championships in Brisbane, Australia, in 2020.
“As their coach, I am very pleased with their performances,” Travetz says. “It was their first Paralympics Games and for them to compete with the world’s best is an achievement.
“I believe they both have returned with a great experience of the game and have built their confidence. Their exposure is valuable to our team back at home.”
The PNG Paralympic Committee first sent a delegation of athletes to the Paralympic Games in 1984. Since then, PNG has been represented in 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020.
Francis Kompaon is the first and only PNG Paralympian to win a medal, claiming silver in the men’s T46 100 metres at Beijing in 2008.
