Boxer bags first Commonwealth Games medal for tiny island nation of Niue
This is the sixth Games that the South Pacific island has competed in.
Boxer Duken Tutakitoa-Williams took just five minutes to seal his place in Commonwealth Games history by winning Niue’s first-ever medal.
With a population of around 1,600, it was perhaps no surprise that Niue – a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean 375 miles to the east of Tonga – had never made its way onto the medal table at five previous Games.
But heavyweight Tutakitoa-Williams ended that wait by stopping his Cook Islands opponent Michael Schuster in the second round of their quarter-final contest at Birmingham 2022.
“I can’t wait to find out the reaction in Niue. Fate brought me here as I originally wanted to go for New Zealand after winning the nationals there.
“But my coach was asked to coach the Niue team and I was so glad to become a Niuean.
“I feel like a Niuean already, but this is not the end. I came here with three other boxers to make history.
Boxing has always seemed Niue’s best route to medalling at the Commonwealth Games.
Two decades ago, the engaging super-heavyweight Star Tauasi made a memorable impact – if not the podium – at Niue’s first Games in Manchester to win the hearts of fight fans all over the world.
Tutakitoa-Williams, who had a bye into the last eight, will now join Tauasi in Niue folklore, and he does not have to go far to get official recognition from the political class.
Sadly, Tagelagi – part of a 15-strong Niue team competing across three different sports – will not be taking his own medal back to the South Pacific.
Niue’s 10 bowlers, five men and five women, have lost every match in Birmingham.