VIS Athlete Selections for 2023 Pacific Games

Nineteen Victorian Institute of Sport athletes have been selected in the 75-strong Australian team for the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.

Close to 5000 athletes from 24 nations will descend on Honiara next month to compete in 24 sports, some of them with Olympic qualification attached to the performances.

Australia is competing across eight sports in the games which begin on November 19 and conclude on December 2.

VIS athletes will compete in seven sports, most of them in the combat sports of judo, taekwondo and boxing. The opportunity for direct qualification for Paris 2024 is available to the boxers and mixed archery team, with rankings points vital for qualification on the line in other sports.

Five of the eight-member Australian Taekwondo contingent prepare out of the VIS and the neighbouring National Combat Centre.

Stacey Hymer and Reba Stewart, both Olympians in Tokyo 2020, head the group which also includes 18 year-old Matthew Summerfield who will be making his Pacific Games debut. The teenager medalled at the 2022 World Junior Taekwondo Championships.

Hymer won gold at the National Taekwondo Championships in Perth last weekend.

“Being selected to represent Australia is such great recognition and reward for all the training and determination to make it to this competition,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to making connections with other athletes and learning the culture of our Pacific neighbours.”