DENGUE SCARE HITS PACIFIC MINI GAMES; ATHLETE RECEIVES MEDICAL CARE, HEALTH ALERT ISSUED

Palau's Ministry of Health (MOH) has warned athletes and officials at the 2025 Pacific Mini Games to be cautious after a dengue fever case was reported on Friday, with an athlete admitted to the national hospital. The Mini Games Organising Committee said all safeguarding protocols for the athlete, teams, visitors and people of Palau have been activated. The Health Ministry is asking everyone to protect themselves as much as possible from mosquito bites. "One case of dengue fever has been detected amongst the athletes," the MOH statement said. "The case was detected through our enhanced health surveillance system, which is conducted daily to ensure early detection and rapid response to potential outbreaks. "The affected person is currently under medical care." But despite the setback, the competition continued in the different sports Saturday.

Medal standings

Tahiti continues to lead the medal standings, with Samoa getting closer in second, following some impressive golden performances. Sunday was initially marked as a rest day but baseball teams will be competing, as organisers work on catching up with the schedule, following two days of competition being washed out on Monday and Tuesday. The features of day six were the 100-metre finals in both the men's and women's categories. Australia won the women's 100m final, with Kayedel Smith claiming first place ahead of Papua New Guinea's Isila Apkup and Fiji's Sera Nasilivata. Smith stopped the stop watch at the 12.16 seconds mark, with Apkup winning silver in a time of 12.17s, while Nasilivata took the bronze home, completing the race in 12.20s. The men's final saw Papua New Guinea's Pasil Wasil storming home to take the gold in a time of 10.51 seconds, ahead of teammate Tovetuna Tuna, who finished 0.02 seconds later than Wasil to claim silver. Fijian Waisake Tewa took the bronze medal. New Zealand-Tongan David Liti took three gold medals in the men's 110-kilogram weightlifting, with a total lift of 335kg. Fijian Reki Roberts proved to be the best heptathlon athlete, amassing a total of 4,250 points to win the gold. Raylyne Kanam of PNG won silver with 3,816 points while Tonga's Manatu Hafoka finished with the bronze. Her teammate Waisele Inoke claimed the top prize in the men's octathlon, totalling 5,336 points. Competition will take a break on Sunday, resuming on Monday with judo getting into action. At the end of day six (Saturday), Tahiti had totalled 53 gold, 32 silver and 18 bronze medals. Samoa has 27 gold medals to its name in second place on the medal tally, while Fiji is third ahead of Australia, with more silver medals won, atlhough both nations have 18 gold medals each. Fiji have 24 silver compared to Australia's eight silver so far. Papua New Guinea, who topped the medal tally at the 2022 Mini Games in Saipan, are currently sitting in fifth position with 11 gold, 17 silver and 16 bronze. Weightlifting competition has ended, along with table tennis, va'a, archery, swimming and wrestling. The closing ceremony is scheduled for 9 June. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1050"]

2025 Pacific Mini Games medal tally at the end of day six of competitions on 5 July 2025. Photo: RNZ Pacific[/caption] Source: rnz.co.nz