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On the ball: Cpl Kate Donnelly passes the ball to a team-mate just before she is tackled.
Photo by AB Bradley Darvill |
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GOLD awaited many Australian Defence Organisation (ADO) members at the Arafura Games in Darwin from May 11-19 while a swag of minor medals rounded out a very solid showing.
Defence landed 59 medals in all – 20 gold, 21 silver and 18 bronze – contributing nicely to the overall Australian tally of 248 gold, 251 silver and 199 bronze at the international games.
Twenty-four sports were contested by hundreds of athletes from around the world, but chiefly from our near-north and South Pacific neighbours.
In women’s football (soccer), ADO beat Enga of PNG 1-0 before losing 2-1 to Malaysia.
It was a case of deja vu when ADO met and beat Enga 4-2 in the semi-finals before settling for silver, again to Malaysia, 2-0.
The women’s basketball team was undefeated in the first three rounds, beating PNG 65-42, Madang Province 100-72 and Northern Territory 63-48, but lost a close semi-final 76-61 to the United States.
Malaysia went on to win the women’s gold 81-64 against the United States, while ADO’s strength and structure proved too strong for the speedy, agile PNG in the play-off for the bonze medal.
PNG never lost touch and showed some aggressive defence despite losing 67-57.
In men’s basketball, ADO lost in a thriller, 77-76 to the Australian Indigenous team with the decider coming in the final minutes. They also lost the semi-final to the United States 88-43 to finish fourth.
In women’s netball the gold medal went to PNG 62-43 against the NT with ADO wrapping up the bronze in a 27-26 win against Malaysia.
It was a good fightback for the women who lost 48-27 to PNG, 34-23 to Malaysia and 38-20 to the NT in the preliminaries, but beat Singapore 49-18 and Japan 72-8.
The ADO men’s volleyball team lost early games to New Caledonia and SA.
Male bowlers took the men’s singles gold medal, silver in the men’s teams event and a bronze in the men’s fours.
In cycling Flt-Lt Damon Stefani took bronze in the men’s criterium behind the NT’s Chris Loynes.
Flt-Lt Stefani and ADO’s Paul Connor finished first and second in the elite men’s road race.
Jason Pelham took silver for the ADO in the elite men’s time trial in 1:19.44 behind Nino Surban (1:22.21) of the Philippines.
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