5 Jul 2014

Sport: Pacific Games may have Australia and NZ

9:17 am on 5 July 2014

The organising committee of the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby says including Australia and New Zealand will help to raise the standard of competition for all countries.

The Pacific Games Council will present a revised proposal to its membership this weekend about inviting New Zealand and Australia to compete next year in weightlifting, rugby sevens, sailing and taekwondo.

The idea was trialled last year when an Australian sailing team competed at the Pacific Mini Games in Wallis and Futuna.

The CEO of the 2015 Pacific Games, Peter Stewart, believes the move will benefit all competitors.

"It's not difficult to accommodate them. There's a few things that need to be done to ensure that the athletes who are competing for Pacific Games medals are not disadvantaged by the Oceania competition that's going around them but they're all manageable. It helps to create a broader interest throughout the Pacific of the Games and it certainly helps to lift the standard of those sports, so the athletes in the other Pacific nations help to benchmark against a higher standard."

Peter Stewart says with one year to go until the start of the Games, organisers remain confident all venues and accommodation will be completed in time and on budget.