New Caledonia prepares for 2011 South Pacific Games

September 1, 2005 New Caledonia is beginning to prepare for the 2011 South Pacific Games, hosting duties won after a vote in Palau.

On July 31, the South Pacific Games Council met to decide on the matter, with the meeting announced to the public by Michael White, NMI chef de mission to the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games. The hosting duties were also bid on by the Solomon Islands, and American Samoa, which was eliminated in the first round.

The last time that the city of Noumea, New Caledonia hosted the event was 1987.

Any country that sends athletes to participate in the SPG is eligible to host the competition.

The New Caledonia win is the culmination of a six-year bid process that all interested countries must follow. White commented, "The charter lays out the time requirements you have to submit a bid and the charter prescribes what elements have to be covered in your bid proposals. Then at some point, six years before the Games, the SPG council reviews all the bids and hears presentations from the bidding countries and decides which country is going to be awarded the Games."

The Micronesian Games Council is still deciding which city will host the 2006 Micronesian Games. Officials from Yap, the original host of the event, say that they won't be ready to host the event due to damage from a recent typhoon. The Republic of the Marshall Islands will host the 2010 Micronesian Games.