Posted: Friday, 4th November 2011
MMU is making Cheshire a true global village – with a new link to the Pacific people of Kiribati.
The Department of Exercise and Sport Science has already established links to the Pacific Vanuatu islands as part of the Crewe Olympic Training Camp for 2012.
Now boxers from Kiribati have travelled 9,000 miles to the county in the hope of competing in next year’s games in London.
The Republic of Kiribati is a group of islands between Australia and Hawaii, with a population of 100,000, and their men Tarieta Ruata, 32, and 23-year-old Andrew Kometa are national champions with Commonwealth Games under their belts.
World-class facilities
The pair are to train at the Crewe Campus until February and hope to enter the Oceania 2012 Olympic Games qualifying competition in March.
Tarieta, a light heavyweight and Andrew, a middleweight, will also compete with local boxers from clubs in Crewe and Macclesfield.
Dennis Dunn, dean of MMU Cheshire said: “We are delighted to host these boxers and hope they enjoy Cheshire as much as our friends form Vanuata have.
“The pre-games training camp at MMUC will allow the athletes to acclimatise, train in world-class facilities, compete and prepare for their qualification tournament, in March 2012, for the London Olympic Games.
Inspiration
“We hope they will have the opportunity to bring some sporting inspiration to other young people through their competitive energy – and share their culture and customs with our community.”
MMU Cheshire and Cheshire East Council are joint organisers of the Crewe Olympic Training Camp, an initiative led by Emeritus Professor Les Burwitz, Professor Neil Fowler and sport and marketing manager Phil Cook.