3 Sep 2012

Sport: Vanuatu's Houssimoli makes Paralympic final in London

10:20 am on 3 September 2012

Vanuatu's Marcel Houssimoli has qualified for the final of the men's 400m at the London Paralympics.

The 24 year old ran a season-best time of 1.09.03 to sneak into Tuesday morning's medal race as the eighth-fastest qualifier.

Samoa's Milo Toleafoa was less than a second slower than his Pacific rival but narrowly missed out on the final.

Meanwhile Tonga's Aloalo Liku is hoping to put a disappointing javelin effort behind him.

The 34 year old only managed three throws in the final, with a best effort of 34.61m.

Tongan Chef de Mission, Viliame Tufui, says the challenge is to put that behind them and begin preparing for the discus throw later this week.

"We want to keep on focusing and we have to move down the things that we have seen have been left tonight and we'd like to build up his confidence. I think for him he has to be very confident and this is only his second international moment in the competition. We want to build up his confidence and bring it back to the track now so we are looking forward for his one last event on Thursday."