Watch the 2023 Pacific Games LIVE and FREE on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand from November 19 - December 2, with 126 hours of live coverage.
The Pacific Games will get underway on Sunday, November 19 - with 5,000 athletes representing 24 of the region’s countries and territories competing in 346 events across 27 sports disciplines.
Australia and New Zealand will take part only the third time in the event's history in 2023 with the Aussies sending a team of 75 athletes across eight sports.
The multi-sport event will be a key step in the lead up to the Paris Olympics, with direct qualification for the 2024 Games on the line in both the archery and boxing competitions.
SBS will provide exclusive coverage of the event, beginning with the opening ceremony on November 19 and concluding with the closing equivalent on December 2.
SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand will deliver 10 hours of live sport each day following the opening ceremony, while SBS and SBS VICELAND will also air 60-minute highlight shows that can be viewed any time via the .
It all promises to be a gripping event, with sports like athletics, boxing, football, volleyball and more bound to excite Australian audiences.
Let's take a look at the athletes who will represent Australia at the 2023 Pacific Games.
Athletics
Australia’s top up-and-coming track and field athletes will don the green and gold in Honiara with selectors naming a young squad for the Pacific Games.
The Athletics squad makes up the largest portion of Australia’s team for the Pacific Games with 16 athletes taking part in both track and field events.
The Aussie Athletics squad, made up of 10 female and 10 male athletes, has an average age of only 20 years of age making it one of the youngest athletics squads competing at the Pacific Games.
It will be a great chance for our young track and field stars to compete in major international competition in preparation for future events such as the Olympics and World Championships.
Gold Coast product and Tokyo 2020 representative Ellie Beer headlines the Athletics team, alongside Under 20 World Athletics Championship Bronze medallist Calab Law.
On the track, watch out for sprinters Aidan Murphy, Georgia Harris, Imogen Breslin, Isabella Guthrie, Lachlan Kennedy, Mitchell Lightfoot and Torrie Lewis. Jake Lunn will be Australia’s only entry in the middle distance events competing in the 800m.
In the field events look for Connor Murphy, Desleigh Owusu, Katie Gunn and Samantha Dale in the Long and Triple Jump, while Nash Lowis will throw for gold in the Javelin and Mia Scerri will compete in the Heptathlon
The Athletics competition at the Pacific Games runs from Monday, November 27 to Saturday, December 2.
Archery
Olympic selection is on the line and Australia’s team of four Archers will be out for gold and a spot at the 2024 Paris Games.
Led by two-time Olympian Ryan Tyack, the Archery squad of Laura Parglis, Peter Boukouvalas and Sarah-Jane Haywood will compete in the recurve as well as mixed team events.
It is the first time Australia has entered a team in the Pacific Games Archery competition.
One male and one female qualification place for the Paris Olympics will be up for grabs in the recurve mixed team event.
Archery at the Pacific Games runs from Tuesday, November 21 to Friday, November 24
Beach Volleyball
Australia will send two pairs to compete in the Beach Volleyball at the Pacific Games.
Twenty-one-year-old Jana Milutinovic (SA) and 18-year-old Stefanie Fejes (NSW) will contest the women’s tournament, while 19-year-old Benjamin Hood (QLD) and 20-year-old D’Artagnan Potts (SA) will take on the men’s competition.
Fejes won the Under 21 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships (with Jasmine Fleming), claiming the title in July this year, while Potts and Hood are a new partnership looking to make the most of the Pacific Games opportunity
Beach Volleyball at the Pacific Games will be contested from Tuesday, November 28 to Saturday, December 2.
Boxing
Thirteen boxers have been selected by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) to compete at the Pacific Games, with the event a direct qualification opportunity for the Paris Olympics.
Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Harry Garside, Yusuf Chothia, Charlie Senior, Shannan Davey, Callum Peters, Adrian Paoletti and Teremoana Teremoana will contest the men’s events for Australia, while Tokyo Olympian Caitlin Parker, Monique Suraci, Tiana Echegaray, Tina Rahimi, Tyla McDonald and Marissa Williamson Pohlman will compete in the women’s events.
Solomons 2023 acts as the continental qualifying event for boxing, with the winner of each weight class at the Pacific Games earning a quota by name for Paris 2024.
Garside, who became the first Australian to win an Olympic boxing medal in more than 30 years when he claimed bronze at the Tokyo Games, will be one of the favourites in his men’s lightweight class.
The Boxing competition at the Pacific Games runs from Tuesday, November 28 to Saturday, December 2.
Judo
Australia will compete in Judo at the Pacific Games for the very first time in 2023 and have selected a squad of 8 Judokas to go for gold in Honiara.
Anneliese Fielder, Ryley Rametta, Saya Middleton, Alannah Joyce, Jordon Greenbank, Ryan Koenig, Carstens Beyers and Danny Vojnikovich will represent Australia.
It is a very young squad with an average age of only 19, but team officials are confident Australia will be contenders in a very tough Pacific Games Judo competition
Judo will take place at the 2023 Pacific Games over two days on Monday, November 20 and Tuesday, November 21.
Sailing
Eight sailors have been selected to represent Australia at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara.
Evie Saunders, Ellen Sampson, Thomas Farley and Isaac Schotte will each contest the one-person dinghy, while Amelia Wilson, Charlotte Wormald, Jarrod Jones and Lachlan Vize will compete in the sailboard class.
The young team, ranging from 15 to 19 years old, continues the youth approach of the wider Australian Pacific Games squad and will be looking to mark their place in international competition.
Seventeen-year-old Evie Saunders from Sydney's Northern Beaches has already shown her racing class, winning silver at the 2022 World Youth Championships and was named Australian Youth Sailor of the Year in 2022.
Sailing competition at the Pacific Games takes place from Monday, November 20 to Saturday, December 2.
Taekwondo
Tokyo Olympians Stacey Hymer and Reba Stewart headline an 8 strong Australian Taekwondo squad for the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.
Hymer and Stewart bring extensive experience to the team, joining Juliet Lahood, Rebecca Murray, Ben Camua, Matthew Summerfield, Liam Sweeney and Tyrone Staben to compete for Australia in Honiara.
Murray and Stewart both return for their second Pacific Games, after winning gold at Samoa 2019, while 18-year-old Matthew Summerfield will make his Pacific Games debut, after breaking a 14-year drought last year in securing Australia’s first medal at a World Junior Championships since 2008.
Taekwondo competition at the Pacific Games take place on Tuesday, November 28 and Wednesday, November 29.
Weightlifting
A team of 13 weightlifters have been selected for the 2023 Pacific Games including two Olympians and a junior world record holder.
Tokyo Olympian Kiana Elliott, junior world-record holder Eileen Cikamatana, Darcy Kay, Brenna Kean, Sarah Cochrane, Jacqueline Nichele and Olivia Kelly will compete in the women's events, while Tokyo Olympian Matthew Lydement, Rory Scott, Oliver Saxton, Kyle Bruce, Leon Vogeler-Schmid and Jackson Roberts-Young will contest the men's events.
Alecha Mahoney-Piva, Zoe De Gersigny, Ryven Ewing and William Brown have been named as reserves.
Competition will be fierce with many of the sports' top athletes calling Pacific island nations home.
Host nation The Solomon Islands boast a number of accomplished lifters who are sure to push Australia’s athletes all the way.
Competition in the Pacific Games weightlifting begins on Monday, November 20 and concludes on Friday, November 24.
