Sāmoan lifter will have the last dance for the Pacific

Team Pacific's hopes of a second medal at the Paris Olympics lie on the shoulders of Sāmoan weightlifter Iuniarra Sipaia.

This is after three lifters from the region - Vanuatu's Ajah Pritchard-Lolo, Sāmoa's Don Opeloge, and Marshall Islands' Mathlynn "Mattie" Sasser - all failed to make the podium overnight.

Team Pacific has one silver medal, thanks to the Fijian rugby sevens team.

Sipaia is the last Pacific athlete to compete and she will contest the over 81kg division at the South Paris Arena tonight. All eyes will be on the 31-year-old from Moto'otua, Apia from 9.30pm (NZ time).

Iuniarra Sipaia at training. She will compete in the women's +81kg tonight. Photo/Talaia Mika

She has represented Sāmoa in the Pacific and Commonwealth Games, the Oceania Weightlifting Championships, and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

Sipaia won the gold medal at the 2013 Pacific Mini Games in the +75kg category and set a new milestone in the sport of weightlifting in Sāmoa.

She also represented Sāmoa at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and competed in the +75kg. She continued her dominance in the sport, claiming three three gold medals in the +75kg at the 2016 Oceania Weightlifting Championships.

Sipaia was also part of the Sāmoan delegation which debuted at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and she claimed a bronze medal in the women's +90kg event.

At the 2017 Australian Open Weightlifting Championships, she emerged as runner-up to New Zealand transgender weightlifter, Laurel Hubbard, who lifted a total of 268kg, 19kg more than Sipaia.

After the 2017 Asian Games, Sipaia was suspended for using Triamcinolone acetonide. In April 2018, she was cleared and her ban was lifted.

However, she couldn't defend her title at the 2017 Pacific Mini Games and did not make it to the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but was unable to attend due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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She qualified for Paris at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships.

Sipaia begins her Olympic campaign today at 9.30pm, New Zealand time.

In other weightlifting results, Tongan-Kiwi David Liti finished in eighth place in the men's +102kg on Sunday with a total haul of 415kg.

Georgia's Lasha Talakhadze won the gold (470kg), Armenian Varazdat Lalayan the silver (467kg), and Bahrain's Gor Minasyan the bronze (461kg).

Liti was chasing a personal best when he fronted up at the South Paris Arena at 6.30am today to represent New Zealand for a second time at the Olympics.

He finished fifth in Tokyo three years ago with a total of 414kg. He won the gold medal in the +105kg event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. His total lift of 403kg was a Games record.

Tongan-Kiwi weighlifter finished in eighth place in the men's +102kg division on Sunday. Photo/supplied

The 28-year-old is coached by Tina Ball and had a personal best of an 182kg snatch and 232kg clean and jerk, for a 414kg total coming to Paris.

He told RNZ that the pastry selection at the Games Village was "10 out of 10" and he might allow himself to splurge after the final.

Earlier, former Fijian champion Eileen Cikamatana missed out on the bronze for Australia in the women's 81kg category with 262kg while Vanuatu's Pritchard-Lolo finished in 11th place (197kg).

Norwegian Solfrid Koanda scooped the gold and the Olympic record of 275kg, with Egypt's Sara Ahmed silver (268kg), and Neisi Dajomes, of Ecuador, winning bronze (267kg).

Sāmoa’s Opeloge did not finish his 102kg competition on Saturday. China’s Liu Huanhua won the gold medal (406kg), Akbar Djuraev from Uzbekistani the silver (404kg), and Belarusian Yauheni Tsikhantsou the bronze (402kg).

The 25-year-old Opeloge could not follow in the footsteps of his aunt, Ele Opeloge, who won a weightlifting silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. It remains Sāmoa's sole Olympic medal.

Fiji fans at the taekwondo competition in Paris. Photo/Team Fiji

Earlier, Marshall Islands' "Mattie" Sasser finished 10th in the women’s 59kg competition with a lift of 209kg.

China's Luo Shifang took the gold (241kg - Olympic record), Canadian Maude Charron the silver (236kg), and Taiwan's Kuo Hsing-chun bronze (235kg).

Sasser, 27, based in Texas, United States, won bronze at the Pan American Championships in Guatemala in 2019.

Meanwhile, Fiji’s Lolohea Naitasi lost to Jordan’s Julyana Al-Sadeq 2-0 in their women’s taekwondo round of 16 contest on Friday.

The spotlight was on the 17-year-old Fijian as she competed in the -67kg round, putting on a brave fight but ultimately fell short.

The closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics is on Monday from 7am, NZ time. Find the official medal tally here.

PMN's Olympics coverage is proudly brought to you by the Pasifika Medical Association Group.

Fiji's Lolohea Naitasi takes on world number five Julyana Al-Sadeq from Jordan in their -67kg taekwondo contest in Paris. The Jordanian won 2-0. Photo/Team Fiji