19 Oct 2012

Sport: Tahiti says it's ready to host Pacific Games

12:04 pm on 19 October 2012

Tahiti says it is proven and ready to host the 2019 Pacific Games.

The host will be decided at a meeting in Wallis and Futuna on Friday afternoon, involving the general assembly of the Pacific Games Council.

The competing bids from Tonga and Tahiti will each give a 30 minute presentation to delegates at the Pacific Games Council's General Assembly before the votes are cast.

Tonga have never hosted the Pacific Games while Tahiti have staged the event twice before.

The Director of Tahiti's Olympic Committee, Charles Villierme, says they've shown that they can host a successful tournament but are still anticipating a close finish.

"We have the facilities, we have the competence - we have everything - but we remind everybody that during the bid for 2015 it was very close with PNG, who also have hosted twice the Games - in fact it was only one vote difference in between the two countries. For us it will be the same because they have the same spirit as us, we know that the facilities will be built by the Chinese, so it's 50/50 bid."