Sports

PM congratulates Special Olympians for a successful outing

April 1, 2019 4:05 pm

The National Special Olympic team received special treatment from Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama in parliament today.

Fiji finished top in the Pacific at the recent event in Abu Dhabi, having ranked higher than New Zealand after scooping seven Gold medals to five.

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Bainimarama says these athletes deserve this kind of treatment who have done the country proud at the games.

“I just want to thank them, coming back home after their successful participation in the Olympic and on Thursday we will continue with the celebration and we’ll be organizing some gifts for these Olympians.”

Beating NZ athletes in Abu Dhabi was an achievement on its own with the Prime Minister joking that Fiji will do the same in Hong Kong this weekend.

“I heard that they got more Gold medals than the Kiwis. So I said since we have gotten more gold than the Kiwi than maybe we can beat the Kiwis again at the Hong Kong 7s.”

Sports Minister Parveen Bala, also joined the Prime Minister to congratulate the athletes.

“Well, I would like to express the same sentiments expressed by the honorable Prime Minister in congratulating the Special Olympic team for winning in Dubai. They’ve definitely have brought fame to the name of our beautiful nation and we would like to say congratulations.”

This is the first time the Fijian Special Olympics team won seven gold medals.

Five gold medals were won in the track events and two in swimming.