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| Takale Tuna 1991 Gold Medalist in the 200m and 4 by 100m relay |
By FIDELIS SUKINA
With a month to go to the Pacific Games I had the chance to
meet up with Papua New Guineas former sprinter Takale Tuna, he was part of the
PNG team which won the games for the country when we last hosted the games in
1991.
Hailing from Matupit East New Britain he was a prodigy in
his own right, breaking National and Pacific Games records during his
illustrious ten year career,
“I am from Matupit full breed, that’s where some Papua New
Guineas great Talent of Sprint hail from” he said,
He added that there was something unique about the Matupit
boys that he could only speculate
“There’s something
unique about the Matupit Boys it started with John Kaputin and Silas
Tita and it went up to me, I think it’s to do with the upbringing, The Jamaicans
they say it’s the bread fruit sop for us it’s probably the banana” he said
He was a natural athlete and played a lot of Sports during
his High School days at Boisen High School which was destroyed by the 1994
Volcano Erruption.
“I played a lot of sports in my time I played Athletics,
Rugby Leauge Aussie Rules, Boisen also produced some of Athletics stars in the
country the like of Ezekiel Wartovo and Peter Pulu”
But it was his
transition to Kerevat National High School that got him more into Athletics
than the other sports
“I went to National High and that’s where I started serious
training in Athletics there was a teacher there Bruce Hautau, with his training
we got going and during carnivals I was noticed and was sent up to Goroka to
the National Sports Institute (NSI) under the Junior Athletics Camp”
During his training he performed to expectations and was
selected for a stint in the Pacific School games.
“The camp was sponsored by Colgate and was called the
Colgate Camp, there were a few American Students who came around and we
challenged them, I beat them and got selected to attend the Pacific School
games”
Australians and Pacific Islands competed in the Pacific
Schools games, and Takale was one of only two medalists to win at the Pacific
Schools games
“I came second in the 400meters at the games the guy who won
the Gold actually held the 400m world record for a while,”
“It’s only two of us from PNG that won medals at the games
the other being our Paralympian Francis Kompaon”
After the Pacific Schools games he made the 1985 Mini South
Pacific Games team and went on a winning streak
“I made a clean sweep in the sprint treble (100m, 200m and
400m) I broke all the pacific games records all the National games records in
Raratonga Cook Islands”
After his performance in the mini games he went on to win
Gold in the 200m and 400m and Bronze in the 100m at the Pacific Games in Noumea
New Caledonia
But one of his greatest Highlights was taking part and
winning in the 1991 Pacific games,
“It was a special feeling to be cheered on by more than
10,000 fans during the games it was exciting but a lot of pressure we had to
deliver”
And deliver they did the team of Subul Babo, Ezekiel Wartovo
and Takale Tuna, blew out the competition in the sprint treble
“Ezekiel won the 100m I came second, Subul won the 400m I
came second, and I won the 200m, we even won the 4 x 100 metres and the 4 x 400
metres relay”
“ I was very happy, I set the pace in the Relay’s I told
Subul and the other guys if you want to beat these other guys you have to beat me,
It was a simple strategy just keep everyone out and race ourselves”
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| Takale with Games Mascot at the 1985 mini games in Raratonga |
After his stunning performances he retired undefeated in the
200m for almost two decades, until his record was broken by Nelson Stone
These days Takale is still working with National Planning
and is giving back to the community through sports administration.
“I have given to the country through sports and now I am
giving to the community, I am currently the President of the Special Olympics I
help athletes with intellectual Disabilities the ones with the Down syndrome”
“My Wife was already involved in Paralympics, I was just
supporting behind the scenes, and when they were they were looking for an
Olympian to head the organization I initially refused but my wife convinced me
otherwise”
And it’s going well
for him at the moment and they are into their third year, some of the athletes
went to the Asia Pacific Games in 2013 and won six gold three silver and a
bronze medal
“Some of the parents find it hard to find opportunities for
the children, and this is an avenue we help them in, we are preparing for the
Los Angeles Summer games which we will be sending 6 athletes”
Takale who attended all the major events on the athletics
calendar during his career had a lot to share.
He said taking pride in representing the country was
important and he had faith in team PNG
“Remember seven million plus people will be behind team PNG,
the baton is being relayed around the country and is touched by everyone and
that represents their support”
He said our track team was a strong one especially the
females, but was quite concerned about the male athletes on the track
“We have a strong women’s sprint team and it’s very strong
with the likes of Toea Wisil and Betty Burua, but the men I haven’t seen them
perform recently”
“Toea Wisil is a strong athlete and can run the 100m, 200m
and 400m, a lot of athletes cannot do that it takes special people, on the
world stage people like Usain Bolt only runs 100m and 200m and Michael Johnson
only 100m and 400m”
“There is a Samoan running 10 seconds flat and a Fijian
running 10.3 seconds in the mens 100m, the measuring stick is the last
commonwealth games in Scotland and the
men’s team didn’t do too well”
He added that in their time during the lead up to the 1991
games they were in training competing with themselves and it was fierce
“We never really went overseas just a few competitions but
the fierce one was back here in PNG we were from all over the country and we
trained hard and checked our progress very well, we need that, the National Championships
in Lae produced times that were quite slow, but I believe the boys can lift
because we have the home ground advantage”
He said the Fijians liked to play mind games to psyche out
the opposition and PNG should try to avoid that, he said during their time they
would surge out of the starting block and break one by one just to intimidate
their opponents.
“During the finals PNG would have three runners and in the
past we would take off one by one and break, there were two chances after a
false start but today there are none, we just have to find some new ways to
intimidate them”
“We have to be hungry enough to win, our ancestors are
warriors and when the time comes, like the beating of the Kundu it is the call
to action, and I wish all the Athletes all the best in this year’s games”
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