A Tuvaluan boxer has won her country’s first-ever Commonwealth Games medal – without winning a fight.
Tarona Taafaki, 20, has put the tiny South Pacific island nation on the map with her feat in the women’s 75kg category in Glasgow.
Taafaki had received a bye to the semi-finals as there were only five entrants, so it didn’t matter that she lost her only bout to Indian Lovlina Borgohain.
Being in the semi-finals guaranteed her a spot on the podium.
The bronze medal will be celebrated with much pomp and glory in Tuvalu – an island south-east of Tonga witha population of around 11,000 – where athletes use the airport runway as their training base.
Taafaki knew the odds would be against her in Glasgow, but was determined to match it with some of the world’s best to make her nation proud.
Tuvaluan boxer Tarona Taafaki won her country’s first Commonwealth Games by default after being given a bye to the semi-finals
‘It’s a small country but we get a chance to take it on the world stage so we can represent the people that don’t usually go to international events like this with pride,’ Tarona told the Oamaru Mail before the Games.
‘I’m looking to inspire our fellow Tuvaluan community. I’d say we’re kind of like the underdogs going into this competition and I’m excited to prove what we’re made of.’
Nobody was more proud than her dad Badi Taafaki.
‘For the people of Tuvalu, this medal means everything,’ he told the eSporty News. ‘We’re one of the smallest nations in the world, so a medal like this is hugely significant.
‘We have worked so hard to get here.’
Baadi Tafaaki is also Tuvalu’s boxing coach.
His son Pasoni also competed at the Games and lost his only bout at 70kg.
Tarona and Pasoni are the oldest of eight children, all of whom are boxers. They are based in New Zealand in order to take advantage of better facilities.
‘My children are very fortunate,’ Badi said. ‘They have opportunities and facilities that I never had. Boxing is our whole life. Strength is in our bloodline.
‘Yes, we train on the airport runway. When a plane comes in, everyone moves aside. As soon as it leaves, we go back on the tarmac, because there is nowhere else to train.
‘If we can win medals, more people around the world will recognise Tuvalu and begin to understand the challenges we face because of climate change.’
Threatened by rising sea levels, climate experts predict half of the nation’s capital, Funafuti, could be submerged by 2050.
‘It is very real for us. The coastal erosion is unbelievable, and the countdown is now measured in years, not decades.
‘Some islands have lost half their land. At high tide the sea comes right through. People living on the coast can’t sleep if there’s a storm, because the waves can come straight through their homes.’
Tarona Taafaki is not the first boxer to win a Commonwealth Games medal without winning a fight.
Australia’s Taylah Robertson picked up bronze in the women’s flyweight category on the Gold Coast in 2018 despite losing her only contest to England’s Lisa Whiteside.
