The Jet Volume 5 Number 3

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It’s hereIt’s here

First of our three Airbus aircraft arrives home to a colourful welcome

Fiji’s very own brand-new A330-200 Airbus was greeted by thousands of people who stood still to witness it land at the Nadi International Airport for the fi rst time with the complete Fijian masi design.

The new aircraft is a major component of the $1 billion reform planned by the Air Pacifi c (soon to be Fiji Airways) and is the fi rst plane ever designed and built from the ground up to expressly repre-sent Fiji and the Fijian people.

Prior to touching down at the Nadi International Airport and straight into the Air Pacifi c Hangar,

By JOSEPHINE NAVULA the aircraft circumnavigated the entire country fl ying at low altitude so that many Fijians could catch a glimpse of it.

Outgoing Air Pacifi c managing director and chief executive of-fi cer, Dave Pfl ieger said arrival of the new aircraft is another mile-stone achievement for Fiji.

“Our new white bodied and re-branded image also represents the three years of incredibly hard work by every single member of Air pa-cifi c.”

“It resulted in winning world class awards for customer service and it also strengthens our global position. So what I would expect is another 61 years of success and

service to Fiji and its people,” he said.

Pfl ieger said the new airline also shows a true identity of Fiji and its people.

“In over thirty-years, it has proudly proclaimed who we are, where we are from and who we represent,” he said.

Pfl ieger also mentioned the new Fiji Airways will continue doing the hard work they have done for the country.

“A strong national airline also means support and assistance to Fiji in good times and in bad. Something we saw last year and yet again this year, when Air Pacif-ic was the only plane fl ying during

the four days of fl ood and the only airline which immediately resumed after the Cyclone Evan in the na-tion.”

“With an impressive 20 per cent more cargo capacity than our old 767 and more frequent fl ights to cities overseas, our farmers, our fi sheries and our other exporters, will all benefi t from better ship-ping schedules and more timely delivery of products to the market place,” he said.

President His Excellency Ratu Epeli Nailatikau said despite the 10-hour fl ight from Hong Kong, it was a special moment especially as the aircraft fl ew over the islands.

“Through Air Pacifi c and a host

of both local and international partners, Fiji now owns a wide-bodied aircraft for the fi rst time since our national airline took to the sky more than sixty years ago,” he said.

53-year-old senior pilot, Cap-tain Jone Turaganivalu, originally from Namuka in Macuata, said the arrival of the new aircraft is also a special event for them.

“I have been a pilot for Air Pacifi c for 24 years, and we have never done this before and it is a very emotional part because we are bringing home one of our very own,” he said.

MORE COVERAGE ON PAGES 21-24

The entire nation came to a stand-still with the The entire nation came to a stand-still with the arrival of the new A330 Airbus. Women with arrival of the new A330 Airbus. Women with

colourful attire and fl ags seen greeting the aircraft colourful attire and fl ags seen greeting the aircraft outside the Air Pacifi c hangar on Tuesday, March outside the Air Pacifi c hangar on Tuesday, March

19. Photo: MUNAUWAR KHAN. 19. Photo: MUNAUWAR KHAN.

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THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER2

FROM THE DESK

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

“Fiji - the way the world should be”“ Being the hub of the Pacifi c, Fiji has everything that a spectacular tropical paradise has to offer - from private island resort accommodations, top class restaurants to white sandy beaches, inbound tours, jet boat rides, hot air balloon rides, mountain trekking, inland tours, eco tourism, sky diving, helicopter rides, cruise trips, scuba diving, massage and beauty parlours, vibrant night life and a lot more than any other

destination in the world offers ”

THE JET is Fiji’s fi rst community newspaper published monthly by SHAMBU ADVERTISING from Nadi - the tourism capital of Fiji.

PUBLISHER : SHALENDRA PRASAD Cell: 9232073EDITOR : JOSEPHINE NAVULA Cell: 7307574SALES MANAGER : VIJNESH CHAND Cell: 9768631PHONE OFFICE : (679) 7767574/ 6708188 FAX : (679) 6708188EMAIL : [email protected] : [email protected]

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LAYOUT BY SHALENDRA PRASAD & MUNAUWAR KHAN

COMMUNITY NOTICE BOARDEMPOWER PACIFIC (Formerly PCSS) provides private, confi dential counsel-ling on depression, family/marital, stress, grief, abuse, suicidal thoughts, STI’s, drugs, alcohol & be-havior lifestyle changes. Opens 8am – 3pm, Monday – Friday. Call us on 6708169 Located at Nadi old hospital road.

ROTARY CLUB OF NADI is on a membership drive to increase members who repre-sent all sections of the com-munity. Nadi Rotarians meet every Wednesday at Sitar Restaurant in Martintar at 6.30pm. Interested people can call club president Krupesh Patel on 6700478

SOROPTIMIST INTER-NATIONAL is a vibrant, dynamic organisation for to-day’s professional and busi-nesswomen, working through projects to promote equality, development and peace. We are seeking members to join our club. Interested ladies can call SI Nadi president Zeaba Rahiman on 9977058

FIJIAN WRITERS ASSO-CIATION which has been established to form the fi rst ever formal body represent-ing writers, poets, journal-ists and everyone who has a passion for writing is seek-ing new members. Interested people can contact Professor Subramani via email:- [email protected]

JOSEPHINE NAVULA

Law school gets timely recognition by PSCBy SHALENDRA PRASAD

Law students at the Uni-versity of Fiji have every rea-son to be happy.

The University’s law pro-gramme has been given the nod by Public Service Com-mission (PSC) following con-sultation with the offi ce of the chief registrar which has agreed to accept the qualifi ca-tions of UniFiji law graduates for employment purposes in the Public Service.

The recognition means stu-dents who graduate under the law programme will be able to easily fi nd employment in the public service and this serves as a milestone achievement as the law school which was established in 2008, produced its fi rst batch of graduates in 2012.

While the number of stu-dents enrolling for the law programme has been on a steady increase, the fi rst batch of eleven students graduated with LLB during the gradua-tion ceremony last year.

At the present stage, a total of 209 students are enrolled in the law programme at differ-ent stages with courses now being offered at both the Suva and Saweni campuses.

Reacting to the recogni-tion, acting Vice-Chancellor Associate Professor Chandra Dulare said students who en-roll for the law programme can rest assured about their future.

“Recognition of the Uni-Fiji Law programme by the Public Service Commission is a milestone achievement for the University as it provides a solid foundation to students to do law without social disloca-tion and at affordable costs,”

Professor Dulare said.“It gives credibility to the

programme offered and the School of Law is bound to be overwhelmed by increases in numbers hereafter.”

Professor Dulare contin-ued that recognition of the law programmes strengthens the resolve of the University of Fiji to provide quality and affordable education to those

who enrol at UniFiji and help develop the human resource base for Fiji and make Fiji a knowledge based society.

Mr Salvin Nand, The Act-ing Dean for the School of Law also thanked PSC “for recognising the Bachelors of Law program and providing equal employment opportuni-ties for the Graduates.”

“Some of our graduates

have already found successful employment as legal offi cers in the Public Service sector. This is timely news as our next lot of graduates will enter the job market in few months. The School will thrive to pro-vide high quality, relevant and socially responsible legal edu-cation that is relevant to the Fiji Legal system.” Mr Nand concluded.

Law Lecturers and staff with Acting Dean of the School of Law. Back Row from left; Mr. Wilfred Golman; Mr. Jiten Singh; Mr. Marika Degei; Ms Ilisapeci Whippy; Mr. Humphrey

Marau. Front Row from left; Ms. Merewai Brown; Mr. Salvin Nand; Ms Salaseini Naivaluvou. Absent; Pt. Devendra Pathik (Honorary Dean and former High Court Judge); Ms Arishma

Goundar; Mr. Janmai Udit. Photo: SANGITA PRASAD.

Fiji created another milestone achievement when our very own brand- new aircraft touched down at the Nadi International Airport in front of thousands of eagerly awaiting people.

It was indeed an emotional sight when the A330 was mak-ing its way to land as the crew of Air Pacifi c chanted along with traditional songs.

The country came to a standstill when the airbus with its new masi design fl ew over the airport and was prepar-ing to land, people had all rushed in for a better spot to capture the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the new A330 coming home.

Bringing the plane home, President His Excellency Ratu Epeli Nailatikau amazed the crowd gathered at the arena after highlighting some of the stunning features of the new airbus.

“The wide bodied aircraft is a large airliner with two passenger isles, known as a twin isles aircraft that can carry from 200 to as many as 850 passengers,” he said.

Air Pacifi c, soon to be Fiji Airways is indeed changing our business in the sky, not only that, we can also asso-ciate ourselves with internationally renowned aircraft manufacturers like Airbus.

The big achievement will surely go down in the history of Fiji and better yet, we have our very own Airbus for the fi rst time.

As the late Pope John Paul once said, “Fiji, the way the world should be.”

God bless Fiji and her beautiful, friendly people.

New A330 a national

icon


THE JET - FIJI’S FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 3

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LOCAL NEWS

Actions to reduce Nadi fl oods

By JOSEPHINE NAVULA

By MARGARET NAQIRI

Integrated Water Resourc-es Management (IWRM) will be reviewing its exit strategy of reducing fl ooding in Nadi, as discussed at this year’s fi rst Nadi Basin Catchment Com-mittee (NBCC) meeting that was held at the Nadi Town Council Chambers.

IWRM Nadi Demonstra-tion Project Manager Vinesh Kumar said there’s no defi nite solution for looking after the water level.

“The reason we put up this project is to see how best we can manage with fl ood waters. We have been looking at the forestry activities up stream, put up early warning systems and set up disaster committees in the village,” he said.

Kumar said the main pur-pose of the meeting is to set

up a committee to look after the decisions that have been undertaken by the members.

“We have decided to form a management committee to look at future funding and activities for the project,” he said.

As part of NBCC projects, there are two sirens function-ing in Nadi to alert the people on the rise of water level.

“The two sirens haven’t been commissioned but it’s up and running. They are sta-tioned at Sikituru and at the back of the Nadi Fire Author-ity Building,” he said.

Kumar later added, they have been working hard to keep the project sustainable.

“We needed some kind of mechanism to keep this proj-ect sustainable. The issue is about how adaptive we can be,” he said.

Members and stakeholders of the Nadi Basin Catchment Committee during the meeting at the council chambers. Photos: MARGARET NAQIRI.

Concerned...Bob Speed and Bobby Raniga pay attention to the presentations at the meeting.

Blood drive attracts donorsBlood donor Anish Vinay Blood donor Anish Vinay Prasad is being assisted Prasad is being assisted

by Sister Muniamma Sami by Sister Muniamma Sami and Phlebotomist Mereseini and Phlebotomist Mereseini Naola during the blood drive Naola during the blood drive

at the MH Car Park on at the MH Car Park on Saturday, March 16. Photo: Saturday, March 16. Photo:

MARGARET NAQIRI.MARGARET NAQIRI.

MH Supermarket car park was a hive of activity on Sat-urday, March 16 as many peo-ple came to donate blood for the western blood bank.

According to Sister Mu-niamma Sami of Lautoka Hospital blood bank, public support is crucial as blood is needed to save lives.

The drive was organized by the Sathya Sai Service Organization of Fiji, Nadi branch.

Chairman of the organiz-ing committee, Mohan Lal said that Lautoka Hospital needs blood and they are al-ways ready to help.

“We carry out such blood drives every quarter to help the blood bank keep a regular supply and donors are also treated with snacks and re-freshments as well,” Mr Lal said.

The organizers were happy with the response from mem-

bers of the public as regular donors and fi rst time donors

turned up at the car park to support the cause.



LOCAL NEWS

By JOSEPHINE NAVULA

Great turn out for Miss World Fiji Auditions

Judges for the casting (L-R) FBC Television Presenter, Clarence Dass, Miss World Fiji Auditions Director, Andhy Blake, reigning Miss Fiji, Koini Vakaloloma interviewing a participant at Zig Zag cafe, at the Prouds fl agship store in Nadi Town.

More nice pictures are on our Facebook page. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.

Everybody loves THE JET...Reigning Miss Fiji Koini Vakalolo-ma was impressed with Fiji’s First Community Newspaper.

Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.

TOP: Tarishma Gounder, the lead actress of the yet to be released locally produced Hindi movie ‘Highway to Suva’ was also part of the auditions. RIGHT: A participant reacts

to our camera. Photos: MARGARET NAQIRI.

More than twenty young women turned up for the Miss Fiji Casting held at Nadi for the fi rst time ever on Saturday, March 16 at the Zig Zag café in Prouds fl agship store.

Speaking to The Jet News-paper, reigning Miss Fiji, Koini Vakaloloma said this is a good opportunity for the young women to showcase their talents and capabilities.

“We have the potential and this is a good time to come out as the Miss Fiji and Miss World platforms bring out tal-ents and at the same time the lucky girl selected for the job can be a good ambassador for Fiji.”

“For all the young women out there, don’t be shy because I was once there and somehow Miss Fiji has molded me to become a good ambassador for the country and a good person as well,” she said.

Auditioning at the castings, third year law student of the University of Fiji, 23-year-old, Ana Dicavu said this is an

opportunity for a lot of young women to come and stand up for what they believe in.

“Miss World Fiji is an im-portant platform for young girls in this country to come together and voice out our opinions and what we believe in,” she said.

Miss Fiji Castings Direc-tor, Andhy Blake said the cast-ing was a successful one.

“The casting was a great turn out for Nadi. We saw girls with a lot of potentials from different backgrounds who were doctors, lawyers and a lot of students, so it was very exciting,” he said.

Blake added that inter-national icons such as Halle Berry, Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai have all re-ceived fame through the Miss World pageants.

The next casting took place at the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation’s building, on Saturday, March 23 and the girl selected as Miss Fiji will participate in the 63rd Miss World pageant in Indonesia this September.

Miss Fiji Koini Vakaloloma represented the country in the Miss Fiji Koini Vakaloloma represented the country in the 62nd Miss World pageant in China last year. 62nd Miss World pageant in China last year.

Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.



LOCAL NEWS

PRESS RELEASE

Empowering women

EU Ambassador launches project on International Women’s Day

His Excellency Andrew Ja-cobs, the Ambassador of the European Union for the Pa-cifi c, launched the EU funded project entitled "The empow-erment of rural women and girls in reproductive health". The project was conceived by the Medical Director of Viseisei Sai Health Centre in Lautoka, Associate Professor Swaran Naidu.

She said that the wellness of many women is affected by their poor reproductive health. The EU funding will enable the team from Viseisei Sai Health Centre to reach out to rural women from Ba to Nadi. Many women in this area are disempowered because of poverty, isolation, not being able to make decisions about their own health and social taboos regarding sexually re-lated topics. The disempow-erment is aggravated by dif-fi culties in accessing quality reproductive health informa-tion and care.

Professor Naidu is a gyn-aecologist with over 30-years experience in women's health internationally and in Fiji. She leads a team of trained staff comprising of nurses and health educators. They will be reaching out to tertiary institutions, high schools and women's groups to educate the educators about reproduc-tive health matters. They will be talking to women and girls about their health needs. In addition with the assistance of the Fiji Cancer Society West-ern Branch they will be pro-

viding outreach clinical ser-vices for cervical and breast cancer screening and assist women with their family plan-ning needs.

Professor Naidu said that the assistance of the EU has been integral to the project. "Without the EU's commit-ment and generosity, this project would not have been possible." She also thanked the Fiji Cancer Society, the Ministry of Health and the Fiji National University for their collaboration, assistance and encouragement. The Vi-seisei Sai health Centre will be working closely with the Divisional Medical and Edu-cation Offi cers, Western on this project.

In his speech, Ambas-sador Jacobs underlined the signifi cance of gender issues. "The EU places a tremendous importance on gender issues, both at home and in the global context as it is a crucial cross-cutting item in all of EU proj-ects and programmes in the region – whether in fi sheries, in climate change, in access to energy. Looking at the Pacifi c region, the EU remains very concerned about the situation across the region, in particu-lar with the high prevalence of violence against women, and the low participation of women in public life." Am-bassador Jacobs also pointed out that "to address the gender situation most effectively, we need a strong commitment by our partners, we need engage-ment at the highest level as

witnessed today by the pres-ence of the Tui Vuda and his wife. We need initiatives that are Pacifi c-centered, and we need a strong involvement of non-state actors."

Professor Naidu said it was fi tting that the project was be-ing launched on International Women's Day. "Women are often trapped in their bodies because of unplanned preg-nancies and that they are tar-gets for sexual and gender violence because of cultural entrenchments." She said it was timely that women felt empowered to protect their bodies and psyche. An em-powered woman can contrib-ute even more to society if she can achieve wellness by main-taining good physical, mental, spiritual and social health.

Background: The Ministry of Health has noted that many women do not use family planning methods, that ado-lescent pregnancy rates are high and sexually transmitted infections are prevalent in the community. They have also stated that Fiji has one of the highest cervical cancer rates.

In Fiji, the EU is cur-rently supporting a number of initiatives that contribute to improving the situation of women. EU supports "Live and Learn" to help mobil-ise women in governance matters, in human right and democratisation processes. Additionally, "FemLink" is helped as to ensure the mass media refl ects women human security issues and to increase that more political space is available for women to en-gage actively in the develop-ment of the country. The EU also assists "Women's Actions for Change" to help marginal-ized women and young people to integrate better into the so-ciety. In the regional level, the EU has several small projects running, addressing directly gender issues. In total, proj-ects in Fiji, PNG, Solomon Is-lands, Timor Leste, and Vanu-atu, account to the amount of €2.3 million, plus several EIDHR projects impacting on gender issues.

His Excellency Andrew Jacobs, right, during the launch of the project which coincided with the International Women’s

Day. Photos: EUROPEAN UNION.

TOP: His Excellency Andrew Jacobs, right, with Dr Swaran Naidu. BOTTOM: HE Jacobs meets with participants at the

Viseisei Sai Health Centre.



LOCAL NEWS

Dorinda works for community

PRESS RELEASE

Newly formed NGO, Stay Connected- Fiji (SCFL) held a workshop on disaster risk and awareness for the women of Nasota settlement in Lautoka recently.

SCFL Managing Director, Dorinda Work said the Punjas sponsored workshop encour-aged participants to highlight pertinent disaster risks that face the community and come up with solutions and bet-ter practices for disaster pre-paredness.

“The workshop concluded with the appointment of a nine-member Disaster Com-mittee for Nasoata, of which 5 are women. Participants were given Certifi cates of Atten-dance and were encouraged to implement the knowledge gained from the workshop in their community,” she said.

On Saturday, SCFL staff

and group of youth volunteers from Wainikasoso Methodist Youth Group worked together with the Nasoata community to clean the shoreline of de-bris.

“After clearing of debris, rows of old tyres were laid along the beach to provide some resistance to soil erosion whilst allowing sand to build up over time,” Work said.

She said the tyres were giv-en by General Machinery Hire and Williams & Goslings and both companies have agreed to maintain a regular supply of tyres to the community.

“The tyres also act as a buffer during high tides and waves in rainy weather,” she said.

“Our mission is to partner with communities and stake-holders to build sustainable livelihoods and our programs

include Community Gover-nance Programs, Financial Literacy and Basic Business Skills Training.

“We are thankful to the people who have made the projects we have undertaken so far a successful one.

“We are thankful to Gen-eral Machinery Hire, Wil-liams & Goslings and Punjas for partnering with SCFL in this project and we look for-ward to partnering with other stakeholders who would be willing to assist in developing communities in Lautoka and surrounding areas.

“We are also grateful to Lautoka City Council for supplying garbage bags and gloves for the cleanup cam-paign at Nasoata,” Work con-cluded.

Women of the Nasoata community light candles to mark the International Women’s Day. Photo: SUPPLIED.

The Nasoata community unites to learn about disaster awareness. Photo: SUPPLIED.

Treat for special kidsBy SHALENDRA PRASAD

Students of Nadi Special Centre for Education were all smiles after getting a lunch treat and a tour of the Nadi Gayatri Shaktipeeth Temple on February 14.

Temple president Jagruti Patel said her members have been providing lunch to the special kids regularly but de-cided to invite kids over to the temple this time.

“We wanted the children to have a look at the temple as well apart from providing them with lunch so they came

with teachers and enjoyed their time here,” Mrs Patel said.

She said the lunch trip was organised to mark ‘vas-ant panchmi’ which marks the start of the ‘faag’ season which culminates with the festival of colours commonly known as ‘holi’ by Hindus.

Students with their teachers and members of the Students with their teachers and members of the temple. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.temple. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.



LOCAL NEWS

Kirtan star enters bhajan competition for baby Angel

By SHALENDRA PRASAD

By SHALENDRA PRASAD

Fiji’s undisputed kirtan king – Avinesh Chand of So-lovi, Nadi has taken a huge challenge by entering into un-chartered waters.

Chand is participating in a bhajan competition against Fiji’s number one bhajan sing-er Master Shiu Dayal.

Kirtan and bhajan are both devotional songs but vary a lot in method and the way the topics are chosen; therefore one can be a champ in one fi eld, but a total disaster in the other.

Despite the odds, Chand has taken up the challenge for a noble cause.

All money raised from the event which will be held at the prestigious Malolo Sangam Temple on Saturday, May 4 from 7pm onwards will go towards the medical treatment of baby Angel who needs ur-gent operations to be carried out in India.

Emotional father, Alan Ku-mar said he is very saddened to see his two-year-old daugh-ter, Angel Kumar in this con-dition.

“Angel was born with both of her feet facing inwards and up until now is unable to walk. She has been diag-nosed with Bilateral Resistant CTEV which is an inversion and severe plantar fl exion of both her feet,” he said.

Kumar also mentioned that Angel is currently walking and running around on her knees.

“We are trying to take her to Batra Hospital, New Delhi, India for treatment and are ad-amant the money raised from the event will help reach the $25K target needed for the en-tire trip and operation costs.”

“The above patient had been diagnosed with Congeni-tal Talipies (CTEV Bilateral). Severe grade was treated through the ponsetti technique at Lautoka Hospital Physio-therapy department. The treat-ment was not successful and she still has gross deformity,” Consultation Orthopedic Sur-geon Joeli Mareko of Lautoka

Hospital stated in a letter.For more information and

ticket sales, contact Alan Ku-mar on mobile 9209132 or

email [email protected].

Little Angel ponders about Little Angel ponders about her future with parents Alan her future with parents Alan and Rachel Kumar. Photo: and Rachel Kumar. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.SHALENDRA PRASAD.

Maha Shiv Ratri celebrated in style at Tirath Dhaam

Hindus all over the world united to celebrate Maha Shiv Ratri on Sunday, March 10.

Also known as the great night of Lord Shiva, here in Fiji, the event was celebrated in style at the renowned Tirath Dhaam in Votualevu, Nadi.

Known as one of the most attractive Hindu shrines in the country, the Tirath Dhaam was established by Late Pun-dit Vivekanand Sharma, a for-mer president of Shree Sana-tan Dharm Pratinidhi Sabha

of Fiji and a member of par-liament as well.

This year’s celebrations re-ceived a major boost – thanks to Aswin Sharma, manag-ing director of Mr Mobile, the sole distributors of Nokia phones in the Pacifi c region.

Mr Sharma donated a grand statue of Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati before the prayers and this added more excitement to the entire environment.

“Tirath Dhaam in Votua-levu has really stood the test of time and I am happy to have made a contribution on behalf of my family and staff,” Mr Sharma said.

Pundit Sachin Sharma, Pundit Sachin Sharma, right, carries out prayers right, carries out prayers to celebrate the instal-to celebrate the instal-lation of the new Lord lation of the new Lord

Shiva and Mata Parvati Shiva and Mata Parvati statue at the Votualevu statue at the Votualevu Tirath Dhaam. Photo: Tirath Dhaam. Photo: COURTESY OF VTD COURTESY OF VTD

FACEBOOK ADMINIS-FACEBOOK ADMINIS-TRATOR.TRATOR.



86TH SANGAM CONVENTION

“We are proud to be associated with TISI Sangam and wish the 86th annual convention every success”

This year the TISI Sangam Convention 2013, the 86th Convention would be held once again during the Easter holidays from Friday 29th March – Monday April 1st at Churchill Park in Lautoka.

The Sangam Convention is the major activity in the San-gam Calendar and draws the largest crowd when compared to gathering of this nature.

Over 10,000 members, friends and well wishers are expected to converge at the

Lautoka all set to host 86th convention

By JAGANNATH SAMICEO - TISI SANGAMFIJI

Churchill Park Friday, March 29 to witness the opening cer-emony.

Justice Jai Ram Reddy will grace the occasion as the Chief Guest.

Cultural events and sports are the corner stone of the convention and over 60 soc-cer teams and 30 netball teams from Fiji and overseas have registered to participate. Golf, Snooker, Volleyball, Tug-O-War are other sports events that districts would be com-peting in over the 4 days.

Cultural programs would be presented by the Women’s Wing (Maathar Sangam) on Friday 29th March starting at 7.00pm followed by the Youth Wing (Valibar Sangam ) on Saturday 30th March 2013.

Sports will continue over the four-days and concludes on Monday, April 1 with “pre-sentation” of trophies to the winners by Mr. Lim Ewe Gen, Lead Country Manager Fiji and West Pacifi c Subcluster of Mobil Oil Fiji.

Ba are the defending champions of the Sangam IDC title. Ba are the defending champions of the Sangam IDC title. Photos: SHALENDRA PRASAD.Photos: SHALENDRA PRASAD.

Nadi won the veterans title against Lautoka Nadi won the veterans title against Lautoka in 2011. There was no competition in 2012 in 2011. There was no competition in 2012

due to bad weather.due to bad weather.

The crowd at Prince Charles Park, Nadi in The crowd at Prince Charles Park, Nadi in 2011.2011.



HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

The 158 people who came out to the Westpac Morning Walk on Saturday, March 9 all had a fantastic time that they have de-cided to organize a walk every two months for the whole com-munity of Nadi.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health, Wellness Unit, the Fiji Physiotherapy Association and Westpac Banking Corpora-tion renewed their partnership to continue to organize health and wellness activity with the aim of improving health and wellness for the people of Fiji.

The program consists of awareness of non-communicable diseases and its damaging effects plus the need to keep physi-cally active as a key component for health and wellbeing. The program centers around the Westpac Morning Walks, which offer free health checks from the Ministry of Health and free exercise, advise from qualifi ed physiotherapists.

The Bank Manager of Westpac Nadi, Ms Ane Tabuya said, “The walk in Nadi was organized by the Border Police Unit and the Namaka Police Station, where we combined community policing and our health and wellness program.”

The Westpac Morning Walks are open to the public and many individuals from corporate and business houses also joined and enjoyed a healthy start to their weekend. All who participated promised to bring their friends and family to the next walk scheduled for Saturday, May 4.

“We aim to add an open air zumba session at the next walk and offer schools that register and walk a free exercise clinic with a qualifi ed physiotherapist,” added Ms Tabuya.

Westpac promotes

healthy livingBy JANINE PENJUELI

Sylvia Peckham leads the stretches at the Westpac morning walk. Sylvia Peckham leads the stretches at the Westpac morning walk. BELOW: More shots from the day. Photos: Courtesy of JANINE BELOW: More shots from the day. Photos: Courtesy of JANINE

PENJUELI. PENJUELI.



BEAUTY MANTRA

By SHALENDRA PRASAD

A whole new way to relax with waxBeauty fanatics have every

reason to be happy – thanks to Beauty Mantra Nadi which has introduced ‘Mind to Body’ massage and lotion candles, a fi rst of its kind in Fiji.

Developed by award win-ning beautician Renna Dan-elutti of Sydney, Australia, the revolutionary candles have given a sigh of relief to thou-sands of customers across the globe.

The new and innovative product is the fi rst for Fiji whereby a unique all natural soy treatment with wax and candle technology can be ex-perienced.

“I had the pleasure of meet-ing Ripal, owner of Beauty Mantra, Nadi at the Sydney International Beauty Expo and we immediately clicked as she was totally impressed with our range of products,” offered Renna Danelutti, CEO and founder of Mind to Body.

“We have been exporting our products overseas and were available in six coun-tries so far and Fiji is our sev-enth market. The innovative

candles are a fi rst for Austra-lia and the world,” Danelutti added.

Being no stranger to the fi eld, Danelutti has been mak-ing such innovative candles from an early age of sixteen and has never looked back ever since.

“It has taken years of re-search and development and the company – Mind to Body is fi ve-years-old now.”

According to Danelutti, all ingredients used to prepare the innovative candles are natural with no side effects.

“There is not one single chemical in any of our candles and each of the candles have vitamins A, B, C, E in it with no colouring and it’s all or-ganic,” she said.

The innovative candles are very different from the normal ones which you can only light up while some having nice odor blended on it.

“As for these candles, you can light them up and the oil produced can be used for your beauty treatment in various ways and has a great sense of feeling attached to it as well,” Danelutti said.

“Eighty percent of our cus-tomers are leading beauty spas

in all our export and home markets while the remainder is from retail stores.

“I hope everyone in Fiji gets to experience these inno-vative candles from Mind to Body and we say it’s a whole new way to relax with wax.”

“The treatment is so easy, just light up the candle and in ten minutes your oil is ready to be applied to your skin or hair.”

With Fiji as the latest and Australia as the home market, the innovative candles from

Mind to Body are also avail-able in Korea, China, Singa-pore, New Zealand and Mau-ritius.

Danelutti says visiting Fiji for the second time was a great experience and she wishes to return for a family

holiday. “I came to Fiji many years

ago with my family and it is the best place to be in the world with plenty of time to relax and do nothing added with the friendliness and hos-pitality of the Fijian people.”

Beauty Mantra Nadi director Ripal Patel, Beauty Mantra Nadi director Ripal Patel, third from right, and Renna Danelutti of third from right, and Renna Danelutti of Mind to Body Australia, second from right, Mind to Body Australia, second from right, with staff of Beauty Mantra during the with staff of Beauty Mantra during the launch of the new innovative candles at the launch of the new innovative candles at the Tuttie Fruity restaurant on Saturday, March Tuttie Fruity restaurant on Saturday, March 2. Photos: MARGARET NAQIRI.2. Photos: MARGARET NAQIRI.

More photos from the launch function by Margaret Naqiri



EDUCATION

Prefect induction for Mount Saint Mary’s Primary School was held on Friday, March 1 in a school mass and a celebration was hosted by the school manager, Father Rafaele Qalovi.

In his Homily, Father Qalovi stressed to the prefects that, “the process of being chosen as leaders may have been done through human election but it was God’s calling for them to lead the other students. God inspires and empowers leaders. Leadership is not just about infl uencing others; being wise in your leadership, equipped with moral values is important – you should be able to distinguish between what is good and what is bad or evil.”

Head Boy Manasa Daurewa and Head Girl Cina Foster are both very humbled indeed with their appointments. Both are looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead of them in 2013; they both acknowledge that they can only be successful in their leadership roles with the support and cooperation of the other prefects. They are grateful to their parents for their guid-ance and support.

Young leaders reminded of their roles

By MERE WILLIAMS

Prefects of Mount Saint Mary’s Primary School pose for a Prefects of Mount Saint Mary’s Primary School pose for a group photo with Father Rafaele Qalovi after their induc-group photo with Father Rafaele Qalovi after their induc-

tion. INSET: From Right is Cina Foster (HG), Manasa tion. INSET: From Right is Cina Foster (HG), Manasa Daurewa (HB), Lusiana Verekawa (DHG) and Caleb Daurewa (HB), Lusiana Verekawa (DHG) and Caleb

Chute (DHB). Photos: MERE WILLIAMS.Chute (DHB). Photos: MERE WILLIAMS.

Head Boy Manasa Daurewa with proud parents. Head Boy Manasa Daurewa with proud parents.

Deputy Head Boy Caleb Chute with proud mum.Deputy Head Boy Caleb Chute with proud mum.

Deputy Head Girl Lusiana Verekawa with proud aunty.Deputy Head Girl Lusiana Verekawa with proud aunty.

Head Girl Cina Foster with proud aunty.Head Girl Cina Foster with proud aunty.



TRAVEL AND TOURISM

PRESS RELEASE

New director of sales for Sofi telExperienced accommoda-

tion industry specialist Al-exandra Ridgway (pictured) has joined the Sofi tel Luxury Hotels group, having recently been appointed Director of Sales & Marketing for the brand’s fl agship property in Fiji, the Sofi tel Fiji Resort & Spa.

Alexandra (who com-menced her management career with Sofi tel’s parent company Accor in 1999 as a Key Account Manager in Ac-cor’s Corporate offi ce in Mel-bourne) was most recently with the Fraser Suites in Syd-ney.

PRESS RELEASE

Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort & Spa, at Yanuca, Fiji car-ried out its fi rst Fire and Life Safety Awareness Training Programme at Cuvu District School. The training session was part of the resort’s Life Skills Outreach Programme incorporated in its Corporate Social Responsibility “Em-brace” Project.

The resort will also work with two other schools in Cuvu District - Nadroumai Primary School and Sigatoka Special School as part of the same Project.

Under the leadership of the Resort’s Fire and Life Safety Manager Nemani Delaibatiki, the team spoke to students about the importance of fi re and life safety and ways in which members of the com-munity can take ownership of this not only in schools but also in their homes.

During the three-hour ses-sion, a short lecture was de-livered as well as a video on the risks and prevention of fi res, before the Shangri-La Fire and Life Safety Team carried out practical demon-strations and “live” training sessions for students in the Cuvu School grounds.

“We hope to encourage and spread the message regarding fi re and life safety, not just in light of recent tragic fi res here in our own community but also because we are all at risk in terms of access to fi re services, particularly the

Leading resort creates fi re and life safety awareness

more remote sections of our community here in Cuvu Dis-trict,” said Michael Monks the resort’s general manager.

“We have been fortunate enough that the Coral Coast family of hotels is now regis-tered with the Ministry of Ed-ucation, which now allows us to carry out training for such critical life skills.”

The Resort’s Fire and Life Safety Manager Nemani De-laibatiki, said, “ In our com-pany, we place the highest pri-ority on fi re and life safety as well as security. We are a 24-hour operation and we have a responsibility to be diligent around the clock. Through this training, we would like to share the knowledge we have so that people in our surround-ing community are in a much better position to help them-selves in the event that a fi re occurs. We hope that through this training as well as through collaboration with the Nation-al Fire Authority of Fiji, we will be able to build a team of fi re wardens in our schools and raise awareness about prevention as well amongst the community.”

Mr Delaibatiki went on to say that it was important to be proactive, rather than la-ment the fact that something could have been done after a fi re has occurred. He further pointed out that the Resort’s Emergency Response Team had attended three major inci-dents in the immediate vicin-

ity of the resort to assist the National Fire Authority.

Shangri-La Hotels and Re-sorts remains committed to operating in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner while bal-ancing the interests of diverse stakeholders. In striving to be a leader in corporate citi-

zenship and sustainable de-velopment, a corporate-level CSR Committee drives the company’s initiatives in the strategic areas of stakeholder relations, the environment, health and safety, the supply chain and employees. Under the umbrella of “sustainabil-ity,” Shangri-La’s social re-

sponsibility programme con-sists of the two elements of “embrace” and “sanctuary.” “Embrace” focuses on Shan-gri-La’s Caring People Proj-ect, which aims to promote the highest level of education and health support in under-privileged communities. In “sanctuary,” the programme

concentrates on Shangri-La’s Care for Nature Project, which promotes the conserva-tion and restoration of biodi-versity. For more information please access the CSR section on www.shangri-la.com.

She spent four years with Fraser Suites working across various roles including Direc-tor of Sales & Marketing and later as Acting General Man-ager.

Previously Alexandra’s ca-reer saw her work with several other fi ve-star international hotels and groups, including Marriott International (Syd-ney Head Offi ce) as a Senior Manager in cluster sales, the Stamford Plaza Hotel Sydney as Associate Director of Sales and later Director of Sales and Marketing. She also worked with the A.N.A Hotel (now the Shangri-La Sydney) as Asso-

ciate Director of Sales.Sofi tel Fiji Resort & Spa

General Manager Adam Lak-

er says he hopes Alexandra’s broad experience across the hospitality, tourism and busi-ness events industries will as-sist in launching a fresh new era for the resort’s established sales and marketing team.

“Alexandra is an extremely talented hotelier, and we are delighted to welcome her to Fiji and our resort on Denarau Island. Her strong profi le in the industry will ensure a con-nected approach to working with all of our varied industry partners and stakeholders.”



NADI DOWNTOWN HOTEL FEATURE

When in town, stay at Downtown!

PRESS RELEASE

The demand for affordable accommodation for budget travelers in the heart of Nadi has resulted in major renova-tion works for a hotel in town.

The Downtown Backpack-er Hotels newly renovated accommodation is also under a new management. And the hotel management has been working hard to upgrade the backpackers’ accommodation to three star facilities.

The hotel is confi rmed to be in the renovation process with $2 million invested in the work that is under-way together with a new-look website implementation in the plan as well.

With 35-years of experi-ence the hotel is the fi rst back-packer hotel chain within the territory of Nadi Town that caters for backpackers – both inbound and outbound.

The hotel is located in the landmark of sprinkling local culture at the heart of Nadi Town with only 10 minutes drive from Nadi International Airport.

Renowned for its excel-lence as service provider, the hotel is in rehabilitation phase with the focus of giving back to the community.

Hotel marketing director Chandar Prakash said: “We want to make a difference in tourism industry and we want to do something for our own people.”

The hotel proudly employs 10 staff and upon its comple-tion, they aim to provide 20 more job opportunities to the local community.

Mr Prakash said the man-agement wants to help locals who are inspiring and strug-gling to fi nd a place in the working fi eld.

“With the idea imposed on renovation the main objective

is to boost the service industry with best suited local products used. Nadi town lovers will have an awesome place to feel themselves with the new renovated property that is un-derway.”

“However we are also as-sisting locals who want to enjoy their stay in a hotel en-vironment with lower local rates,”Mr Prakash said.

The hotel is partnering with Nadi Chamber of Com-merce & Industry, Nadi Town Council and Local Commu-nity for safety and security of its guests and offering best shopping, dining, entertain-ment opportunities for differ-ent market segments.

“We give fi rst priority to our guest’s safety, considering our guest to take full advan-tage of their stay with a sound and safe environment.”

Mr Prakash said they guar-antee the guest the best stay, offering free airport transfers.

“Also note that we recently have been working hard to upgrade the backpackers’ ac-commodation to three star fa-cilities to provide quality ac-commodation and service for our guests. We guarantee you will arrive as a guest but stay as friends and feel at home.

Mr and Mrs Chandrika Prasad, the managing direc-tors are also the founder of PVV Tours. Nadi Downtown Hotel, Nadi Holiday Inn, PVV Rentals and Infosys Fiji Ltd. They are now aiming to pro-vide quality accommodation and service that budget trav-elers are now looking for in Nadi Town.

Mr Prasad is one of the pioneer’s in the tourism in-dustry with over 35-years of experience.

Hotel founders Mr & Mrs Chandrika Prasad with their granddaughter Tanisha Chandni. Photo: SUPPLIED.



BUSINESS MENTORING

What is the importance of your business - Name?A new series of articles with challenging perspectives for your businesses

By CLAIRE-DIANE GIRALDEAU

In our Business Women Network I mentor some of our ladies and we have looked at the importance of selecting the right name for their busi-ness. I am so amazed to see people introduce themselves in a business meeting with-out a business card or even a business name. They can talk about what they do, explain their services yet there is no real “business mindset”, it is often just a way of earning money to feed the family es-pecially for women.

Of course in our women’s meeting many are still at the stage of setting up their busi-ness and this is probably the best time to ensure that they pick the perfect name for their business. So let’s go through some contributing factors to help you choose the best busi-ness name.

1. Your vision or dream about your business

The very fi rst refl exion you should have is to come up with a clear vision and it should be very very simple. I often use the example of N.A.S.A. (U.S. space shuttle) their vi-sion was “To put a man on the moon”, even the fi nance man-ager can remember it and all employees can somehow take ownership, feel like they can be part of this dream. I know this applies for a big organisa-tion, however even if you just

have a sole proprietor small catering business you should have a dream about your busi-ness.

Where you see yourself in 5 years, what do you want to do with this buisness, would you like your business to be-come famous if so how much, locally, regionally or even in-ternationally? By answering these few questions you will get some indicators to select your name. For example if you dream of becoming in-ternational a “Fijian” word in your business name may be meaningful here in Fiji but quite meaningless in another language like English. Also it may mean something offen-sive or completely different, I know for a fact that some Spanish words can be written the same as Fijian words and be insulting.

2. Your mission or fi eld of activities

The name of your busi-ness does not have to include your fi eld of activities; it all depends on the obvious side of what your fi eld of activ-ity is. Also many times, there are various meanings to the same word and you must be careful. For example, JET is more recognised in the airline industry, yet the Jet set has be-come a way of referring to the active social life of a city and our Nadi newspaper is called The Jet.... nothing to do with plane and a fantastic name.

It is also important to be creative, stop copying oth-ers, come up with something meaningful to you. When I started Tokani Art Agency, I was looking for a Fijian word, easy to say in any lan-guage, most people abroad do not know the Fijian meaning of Tokani, they think it is a “made up name” and that is perfect as long as they can re-

member it easily it is great. So Tokani in itself has nothing to do with “Art”, it is the other words that complement the activity.

If you are trying to de-scribe your activity in a local language probabilities are that only those who understand that language will know. I am mentoring some young ladies now who want to establish a unique “dance” group, com-ing up with the “meke” group as a name will not give the true sense of what I know they want to achieve. There has to be something really distinc-tive about the name when your intention is to do some-thing totally different than the others.

It is a common practice in Fiji, to see everyone copy ev-eryone, so ensure that no one can copy you, make it diffi cult for them to copy you, keep some element of your busi-ness discreet, secret and keep adding new things yet do not disperse yourself in too many activities.

3. Your goals short term & long term

When you start you may go just by the “word of mouth” style of promoting your busi-ness, I agree that it is cheap, easy and simple to go this way however there comes a point where you will need to do more. You must set goals & objectives. Why did you start your business in the fi rst place? What goal did you have in mind, is it only to pay bills? Maybe initially but what if it could be more?

You need to plan what if it picks up and grows, can you handle it alone? Will you hire qualifi ed people or just count on families and friends to help you without paying them. How reliable will that be? There is always a great chal-

lenge for small business in Fiji and it has to do with consis-tency and I personally think that it is a refl ection of your concept of “time”.

You live in the “present’ and that is wonderful I have learned to do that since I live here, but in business espe-cially if you will deal with foreigners/visitors it cannot work. So planning, setting up goals gradually “seeing” your business grow will help you become reliable and success-ful. Your name will become recognised by its performance in achieving goals & promises to your clients.

4. Your logo and tag line

Today it is easy to create your own logo if you want to keep it simple when you start, again I believe that using some professional help will make a difference depend-ing on what your dream is all about. It may also take a while to fi nd the right graphic artist to do exactly what you imag-ine. I know I went through that process with 3 different artists before getting the logo for Tokani. It had to be drawn a few times, the choice of colours need to fi t your own tastes as well.

For Tokani, the logo is inspired by a Maori symbol for the month of May my birthday, it means prosper-ity and wealth, the colours violet is for royalty and green represent the heart charka all of these elements combined comes to the meaning of “to-kani” forever friends. That is what I dream for Tokani Art Agency. Now there is no need to explain to everyone the meaning of your logo if you choose not to like I do, but it must be something that iden-tifi es with you and gradually people see it and they know it

is you. The other part of the name

& logo is having a “tagline”, I chose for Tokani Art Agency... Touched by Art©, because I am personally touched by art and I want people who see our exhibitions to be touched by art as well. For my consult-ing business Executive Men-toring Group (EMG Fiji) the tag line is “Leading you to change without the box” and of course that differs from the expression “thinking outside the box”, because my ap-proach to change is that “there is NO box”. So the tagline is a little bit like an indication of your business results. Think a little about some big brand, I am sure you can easily name a few organisations’ tagline as soon as you see their logo

5. The challenge of having to change your busi-ness name.

What are the various costs to change your business name; initially it may be just the printing of your material and product labels. But it can also go way beyond that and get to a complete rebranding as in the examples below.

Last year one of my “art” clients contacted me to con-sider using one of Tokani’s artist to do the drawing of the new packaging of her beauty products. You probably saw the articles in various papers last December when we did the launch of Essence of Fiji beauty products with Api Va-karau getting the commission work to produce artwork for the owner Debra Sadranu. The whole process took more than a year to change the name Es-sence of Viti to Essences of Fiji, and it made me realise that now that Debra is export-ing her product abroad using Fiji instead of Viti made a big difference. People overseas

do not know where Viti is or what it is, yet Fiji is known.

We are all now very aware of the name change of our air-line from Air Pacifi c to Fiji Airways and that of course is at a much higher scale than one can imagine it is a total rebranding. I am part of the training team for the Hospital-ity training being conducted to the cabin crew right now in preparation of the arrival of the new airbus and the com-pletely new onboard service. I must admit that I am really impressed and enthusiastic of the pride it is bringing to all participants. There are so many changes apart from the plane itself which will demand adjustment in technical set up, other changes like the uni-form, the quality of service, the sense of excellence which comes in truly from the people who do present that service. Like I shared in the classroom there is a difference between saying “my pleasure” ver-sus “no problem” when you bring the 10th glass of water to a guest. I sincerely believe that change is all about peo-ple and each individual staff, cabin crew, pilot can make a difference in embracing that change. I look forward to my next trip and experience the very unique and worldwide known warmth of the Fijian people.

In conclusion choose the name of your business care-fully, go through the steps above to assess whether or not you will stay local or go inter-national and test it with vari-ous people, potential custom-ers. I will be more than happy to discuss with you in private mentoring sessions all aspects of your business.

Contact Claire-Diane emg-fi [email protected] Mobile 925 8050



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FIJI AIRWAYS A330 ARRIVAL

• The Prime Minis-ter, Honourable Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama

• The Honourable Chief Justice

• Cabinet Ministers• Your Excellencies

the Ambassadors and High Commissioners

• Members of the Diplomatic Corps

• R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s from Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and Panasonic

• Members of the Fiji Tourism Industry

• The Chairman and Members of the Air Pacifi c Board

• Mr. Dave Pfl ieger, Managing Director and Chief Executive Offi cer of Air Pa-cifi c and Staff of Air Pacifi c

• D i s t i n g u i s h e d Guests

• Ladies and Gentle-men,

Good morning, Ni Sa Bula Vinaka, Asalam Aleikum, Na-maskar!

I wish to fi rstly acknowl-edge the traditional ceremo-nies of welcome by the chiefs and people of the vanua of Saunaka.

Usually, after a long ten hour fl ight, I would look for-ward to disembarking and set-ting my feet on solid ground!

However, on this special occasion, i did not mind – nor did the others of the extended fl ight time around the islands, and especially the one-off op-portunity to show the people of Fiji, Air Pacifi c’s, and, in fact, Fiji’s latest national as-set.

I must also say that the 10-hour fl ight from Hong Kong was a special experience given that we were on a brand-new plane! I can already imagine what it will be like when we add the full complement of in-fl ight services and the pro-fessional personal touch of hospitality of which our own air pacifi c fl ight attendants are famously renowned.

I know that many of you, like me, have been eagerly looking forward to our new plane. And I am glad to see many of you here to celebrate this auspicious occasion. For indeed, today is a day to cel-ebrate a remarkable achieve-ment.

Through Air Pacifi c and a host of both local and interna-tional partners, Fiji now owns a wide-body aircraft - for the fi rst time since our national airline took to the sky more than sixty years ago!

For the un-initiated, I’ll share with you some of my newly acquired knowledge of aircrafts which has just been boosted over this past week-end since travelling to Hong Kong to bring our new plane home.

The wide body aircraft is

Address by His Excellency Ratu Epeli Nailatikaua large airliner with two pas-senger aisles, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft. Wide-body aircrafts can seat from seven to ten and in some cases even eleven passengers abreast. They can carry from 200 to as many as 850 passengers.

Up until now, Air Pacifi c’s fl eet comprised of narrow-body aircrafts which were of course with a single aisle and carried an average of 162 passengers. This is not to say that Air Pacifi c does not op-erate wide-body aircrafts. It operates the 747 and used to operate a 767, but these were leased in the past.

The ownership of wide-body planes is a strong state-ment that Air Pacifi c, and, indeed Fiji, is changing our business in the sky! Not only that, we can also be proud to be associated with inter-nationally renowned aircraft manufacturers like airbus, Rolls-Royce and Panasonic, whose distinguished represen-tatives I have had the pleasure of meeting in Hong Kong and who have made the wise and important business decision to deliver their fi nished product to us today.

Be rest assured that i am giving you the thumbs-up for making such an excellent product!

You have stood true to your reputation of manufac-turing fi rst-class state-of-the-art aircrafts which have now become the popular brand in the aviation industry around the world.

Speaking of Hong Kong, I know many people will have wondered why those of us who just fl ew in this morning didn’t stay back to be part of the much-looked forward-to Hong Kong sevens.

Let me just say that duty called and that we decided not to mix business and pleasure on this occasion. But we know only too well of the many who are quietly chuckling – and enjoying this monumental mis-timing!

But I have this to say to our national sevens team: you performed dismally in Wel-lington but you improved in L.A., you go to Hong Kong as defending champions. We wish you every success. You will give us even greater rea-son to celebrate if you win the Hong Kong sevens title this weekend.

Today ladies and gentle-men, marks a very signifi cant milestone in the evolution of aviation in our country. The magnifi cent plane we see be-fore us is the fi rst of three that Air Pacifi c has bought. The new planes and the expanded routes they will soon fl y, will contribute greatly to growing Fiji’s economy and its proud tradition of hospitality and

tourism. Importantly, the new

planes will enable Fiji to ex-pand and sustain its connec-tions to countries with a high number of out-bound tourists, and also to new and emerging markets like China, India and the greater Asian region, and perhaps even in Europe.

On the whole, Fiji’s tourist arrivals, including those from our traditional sources in Aus-tralia, New Zealand and the Americas continue to reach unprecedented levels. I have no doubt that the new air-crafts will translate into even more arrivals, in the same way that they will help cre-ate more jobs and contribute signifi cantly to sustaining our tourism industry as Fiji’s top foreign exchange and revenue earner.

The new planes will also enable Fiji to increase our ex-port opportunities to new mar-kets. However, it is important for all Fijians to note that with these expanded opportunities comes greater responsibility for all of us. Our collective responsibility is to develop our country into one of the best tourist destinations in the world.

We need to ensure that we provide unparalleled hospi-tality in an equally safe and environment-friendly desti-nation. These will add great value to the natural beauty of our islands and the uniqueness of our people.

So, our challenge is to be among the best tourist desti-nations in the world! I have every confi dence that we can do this and enjoy the fruits of our labour.

Air Pacifi c is already showing the way. But like any other business venture, the airline has been through both good and bad times.

Recently, however, with the sterling leadership of its

Managing Director and Chief Executive Offi cer, Dave Pfl ieger, the airline has seen a huge turn-around from sus-taining signifi cant losses in previous years to raking-in profi t in the millions of dol-lars lately.

In addition to this rejuve-nated profi t, air pacifi c has made unprecedented im-provements to its operational effi ciency. The fact that it has now been able to purchase top-of-the-range aircrafts is indicative that the airline is well on the road to recovery, and a brighter future.

However, as I mentioned to our guests in Hong Kong yesterday, it is rather unfortu-nate for Fiji that we will soon lose Dave to one of the United States ‘leading airline compa-nies.

Fiji must now take courage and confi dence in the long-term strategies that Dave’s sterling leadership has helped to put in place, and in the staff that he has trained. And all of us in Fiji wish him and his family well in all their future endeavours.

At this juncture, I would like to acknowledge on be-half of the government and the people of Fiji all those who have helped to make this dream for Air Pacifi c and for Fiji turn into reality.

We thank each and every one of you – our local and global partners - for your sup-port and contribution towards acquiring these new planes and towards arrangements that should see air pacifi c and Fiji having a competitive edge in the airline industry. Even-tually, we would like to see a win-win outcome for all of us.

Ladies and gentlemen, i now draw your attention to our latest national treasure.

The traditional design or masi symbol that you see on the side of the plane is meant

to distinguish air pacifi c, which is soon to be known as Fiji Airways, from the rest of the airlines. The design repre-sents the culture and heritage as well as the spirit of Fiji and her people; it represents the natural beauty of our 333 islands; and it also represents the genuine hospitality of our people. These, among others, are the x-factors that we hope will lure more tourists to our side of the world.

This particular plane as you have been told is named “the Island of Taveuni” after our third largest island.

And I am pleased to reveal, for the fi rst time, the name of the second plane which will be arriving in May of this year. That plane, also another airbus like this one, will be named Namuka-i-Lau, pay-ing homage to a national icon, Ms.Makereta Matemosi- who is here with us today, and to the island from which she hails.

Not only has Makereta designed the new identity for ‘Fiji Airways’, she has done so by using art and inspiration which is uniquely Fijian. She is a shining example of the creativity of our people.

And as our national airline soars to new horizons, so will

her designs, and the place she calls home.

In naming the new planes after Taveuni and Namuka-i-Lau, Air Pacifi c/Fiji Airways will carry on its proud tradi-tion of promoting the islands of Fiji.

We all wait in anticipa-tion for the naming of the third plane, which will arrive in November of this year, but that is another secret.

My fi nal comments this morning are to the 900 people who work for Air Pacifi c, soon to be Fiji Airways. Thank you for weathering the storms of the past. Your hard work has achieved all that the airline is today. The nation recognises your contributions to your company, and indeed to your country. I encourage you all to continue to deliver the sterling results of the past three years. I am excited to be back here to witness what you all will ac-complish next.

Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the people of Fiji, I am deeply honoured to wel-come Air Pacifi c and Fiji’s new aircraft, “The Island of Taveuni.”

Thank you, vinaka vaka-levu, shukriya, bahut dhan-yavaad.

Chief pilot Captain Josua Cavalevu who brought home Chief pilot Captain Josua Cavalevu who brought home the new Airbus A330-200 shares a light moment with His the new Airbus A330-200 shares a light moment with His Excellency Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. Photos: MUNAUWAR Excellency Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. Photos: MUNAUWAR

KHAN / MARGARET NAQIRI / MINFO.KHAN / MARGARET NAQIRI / MINFO.

Top three...Prime Minister Commodore Frank Top three...Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama greets HE Ratu Epeli Nailatikau Bainimarama greets HE Ratu Epeli Nailatikau while attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum while attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum

looks on.looks on.




By JOSEPHINE NAVULA

Air Pacifi c, soon to be Fiji Airways, has provided profes-sional trainings for its work-ers for over the years now.

Outgoing Air Pacifi c man-

President brings home Airbus A330HIS Excellency the Presi-

dent Ratu Epeli Nailatikau was at the forefront of the culmina-tion of months of excitement when the A330 aircraft arrived home on Tuesday, March 19.

The head of state left for Hong Kong to bring home the new airbus after accepting a call to offi ciate at the A330 welcome reception that kick-started on Monday, March 18.

The welcome reception al-lowed the airline to showcase its A330 to key members of the Hong Kong and China travel trade thus increasing their un-derstanding of the airline’s product and services on that route, and promote Fiji tour-ism.

The President, together with Air Pacifi c executives, accompanied the aircraft on its maiden journey home on Mon-day evening and was also chief guest at the welcome reception at the Nadi International Air-port.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and his Cabinet Ministers together with other guests awaited patiently for the President’s arrival.

The aircraft carries the Fiji Airways new logo complete with the Masi design although as a business Air Pacifi c will start using this moniker after June this year.

The reception in Fiji fea-tured members of Fiji’s tour-ism industry, business com-munity, executives from Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Pana-sonic, government dignitaries and Air Pacifi c staff.

PRESS RELEASE

Staff training a priority at Air Pacifi caging director and chief ex-ecutive offi cer, Dave Pfl ieger said they train their pilots and send them overseas for further experience.

“The Airbus has three training facilities around the world and that’s where we

send our pilots, we also send our fl ight attendants to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacifi c for their trainings,” he said.

The three training facilities are at Toulouse in France, Bei-jing in China and Miami in the United States of America.

Pfl ieger said their airline has provided a lot for the Pa-cifi c region.

“As the small airline of the Pacifi c, we are providing so far above our weight, because we have a great team and we’re doing well,” he said.

The new Fiji Airways will extend its route travelling to the other destinations as well.

The new airbus is sched-uled to carry out its fi rst com-mercial fl ight on Tuesday, April 2 to Auckland via the Nadi International Airport.




Hard work creates history

By VARANISESE NASILASILA

Great launching for a great event - Fiji citizens stood still to witness history at hand when Fijis’ own Airbus A330 landed at the International airport, in Nadi on Tuesday, March 19.

Before landing the all new A330 circumnavigated all over Fiji to let people have a glimpse of the new Airbus – a symbol of national pride.

From Sigatoka to the Capital City, to other parts of the is-lands in Taveuni, Savusavu and Labasa, soaring her way over to the west covering Ba, Lautoka before wheeling down at the Nadi airport, the new aircraft got the nation beaming with ex-citement.

Surrounding the area with a Fijian pride atmosphere, it was truly an emotional day for everyone.

Offi cial program began with a traditional welcome by the warriors, Kava ceremony before Outgoing Managing Director and Chief Executive Offi cer Dave Pfl ieger delivered his re-marks about the new airbus with a word of thanks to those that had made the day a successful and historic one for Fiji.

“It’s an amazing airplane because it is the fi rst plane ever designed and build from the ground up to expressly represent Fiji and the Fijian people,” said Pfl ieger.

“ I would like to also thank and give my most sincere and deepest thanks to the people who are largely standing at the back of the room and also here with us today and that is the nearly nine-hundred people whose hard work and dedication made this day a reality, our Air Pacifi c team,” he said.

After the wonderful introduction of the new airbus, Mr. Pfl ieger acknowledged the presence of His Excellency, the President, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.

The President, who emotionally shared his experience about the 10-hour fl ight from Hong Kong to Fiji, didn’t mind the long trip, due to this historic occasion.

“Usually after a long 10-hour fl ight, I look forward to dis-embarking and setting my foot on solid ground. However on this special occasion I did not mind nor did the others on the extended fl ight time around the Islands and especially the one-off opportunity to show the people of Fiji, Air Pacifi c’s and in fact Fiji’s latest national asset,” Ratu Epeli said.

He said that the 10-hour fl ight from Hong Kong was a spe-cial experience given that “we were on a brand new plane”.

Concluding the ceremony, Chairman Nalin Patel also shared a few words before CEO David Pfl ieger presented the Aircraft over to His Excellency, the President.

After the ceremony, everyone was later invited to have lunch and tour inside the new Airbus A330, with live entertainment from the Police Band and Air Pacifi c workers.

Air Pacifi c managing director David Pfl ieger Junior disem-Air Pacifi c managing director David Pfl ieger Junior disem-barks from the new A330 with his team upon arrival at the barks from the new A330 with his team upon arrival at the

airline hangar in Nasoso. BELOW: Everyone gets in a jovial airline hangar in Nasoso. BELOW: Everyone gets in a jovial mood.mood.




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Arrival of the new Airbus A330-200 in pictures



BUSINESS NEWS

All tax cases will now be fast tracked after the appoint-ment of Honorable Justice Chandrasiri Kotigalage as the Tax Judge of the High Court.

Previously there has only been appointments of Tribu-nals to attend to tax matters, that is Court of Review for Income Tax and VAT Tribunal for VAT, under the respective Income Tax Act and VAT De-cree.

With the changes in the ad-ministration of tax under the Tax Administration Decree (TAD), there are specifi c pro-visions in TAD for the estab-lishment of the Tax Tribunal and Tax Court. The Tax Court

Tax judge appointed

is a Division of the High Court, whilst the Tax Tribunal is a subordinate Court to the Tax Court.

The Fiji Revenue and Cus-toms Authority Board and Chief Executive Offi cer wel-comed the establishment of the Tax Court and the appoint-ment of the Tax Judge. It is also noted that this is the fi rst in the history of Fiji’s judicial system that a Tax Court has been established and FRCA is appreciative of the Govern-ment’s support to ensure im-provement in processes and delivery of services.

“FRCA is pleased to have Justice Kotigalage as the tax

judge. His appointment will greatly assist in expediting tax matters that are pending in court,” said FRCA CEO Mr. Jitoko Tikolevu.

Mr. Tikolevu said “FRCA collects 90 percent of the gov-ernment revenue and it is im-portant for the cases relating to tax to be given priority”.

Justice Kotigalage’s ap-pointment becomes effective from 26th February 2013.

PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE

Big boss...Fiji Revenue Big boss...Fiji Revenue and Customs Author-and Customs Author-

ity CEO Jitoko Tikolevu. ity CEO Jitoko Tikolevu. Photo: MARGARET Photo: MARGARET

NAQIRI.NAQIRI.

New foreign exchange service opens

By JOSEPHINE NAVULA

The newly established money exchange and money transfer company, Real Forex will be a new contribution to employment in Nadi, after it was opened by the Commissioner Western, Commander Joeli Cawaki.

“To provide employment to the people, contributes to the growth of the economy and this opening of Real Forex will be one of the contributions,” Commander Cawaki said.

Also speaking to guests at the opening, Nadi Chamber of Commerce & IndustryPresident Dr. Ram Raju said this venture has been achieved by hard work over the years.

“We have businesses running in town that slowly rise up again, after the recent cyclone and fl oods from the past few years. And we have been working to make this place a town full of shops that will boost our economy and also attract tourists.”

Real Forex is now in operation along Nadi’s Main Street and is owned by leading businessman and movie producer Peter Nair.

Chief guest Commissioner Western Commander Joeli Cawaki (seated) takes a tour of Chief guest Commissioner Western Commander Joeli Cawaki (seated) takes a tour of the new offi ce. Standing from left are Nadi Town Council CEO Nemia Tagi, Nadi Cham-the new offi ce. Standing from left are Nadi Town Council CEO Nemia Tagi, Nadi Cham-

ber of Commerce & Industry president Dr Ram Raju, Akhtar Ali, Rajan Narayan and Real ber of Commerce & Industry president Dr Ram Raju, Akhtar Ali, Rajan Narayan and Real Forex boss Peter Nair. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.Forex boss Peter Nair. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.

Thomas takes

charge at NatureFiji-

MareqetiVitiNunia Thomas, (pictured above)

NatureFiji-MareqetiViti’s Conservation Co-ordinator has been appointed Director, taking charge of Fiji’s most progressive local conserva-tion organisation. She takes charge of a staff of 10 proj-ect offi cers with responsibil-ity for 12 on-going projects.

Her fi rst challenge will be to oversee the merger of the BirdLife International Fiji Program with NatureFiji-MareqetiViti’s domestic program.

“Nunia was NatureFiji-Mareqe-tiViti’s fi rst recruit, fi ve years ago and she has de-veloped into a dedicated and passionate conservation professional. She brought to NatureFiji-MareqetiViti advanced technical expertise as a fi eld-oriented biologist and has rapidly developed the administrative, people and community skills so important for a conservation professional,” noted Dick Watling, one of NatureFiji-MareqetiViti’s Founding Trustees.

“We are especially delighted that we have been able to promote from within the or-ganisation,” he added.



2012 AON FIJI EXCELLENCE IN TOURISM AWARDS

* Pictures are for illustration purpose only

Denarau was a hive of ac-tivity on Friday, February 22 as the 16th AON Fiji Excel-lence in Tourism Awards rec-ognized individuals and op-erators who did exceptionally well in their respective fi elds last year.

While addressing guests and participants, tourism min-ister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said government is fully com-mitted towards the tourism in-dustry and this could be seen with the introduction of new strategies such as the rebrand-ing of Tourism Fiji with a new logo and slogan ‘Where hap-piness fi nds you’, a new web-site with numerous additional features and unprecedented infrastructure development.

“The Bainimarama gov-ernment has committed $23.5 million for tourism marketing for the past four-years in a row and this has never been done before in the history of Fiji,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

Government efforts boost tourism sectorBy SHALENDRA PRASAD

He said while all the de-velopment work is important, what sets Fiji apart from oth-ers is the warmth of the Fijian people.

“We can have the best air-ports, roads and properties, but if we do not invest in our people, all this will be on no signifi cance.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum has urged operators to invest in human resources as govern-ment is also doing its part by setting aside millions of dol-lars in training via the Fiji Na-tional University.

Meanwhile, a total of 15 awards were given out during the function at Sofi tel Fiji Re-sort & Spa as follows:-

• Fijian Host of the year – Joe Gray, Customer Services Manager, Airports Fiji Limited

• Front liner – Eroni Bole, Rosie Holidays

• Tourism Sustain-ability – Kula Eco Park

• Incentive Events – Rosie Holidays

• Fiji Experience – Koro Sun Resort – Raintree

Spa• Restaurants & Din-

ing (Quality & Value) – Antoi-nette’s, Nadi Bay Resort Hotel

• Restaurants & Din-ing (Fine Dining) – Ivi, Out-rigger on the Lagoon

• A c c o m m o d a t i o n Budget – Manta Ray Resort

• A c c o m m o d a t i o n Quality – Malolo Island Re-sort

• A c c o m m o d a t i o n Deluxe – Outrigger on the La-

goon• A c c o m m o d a t i o n

Unique – Royal Davui• A c c o m m o d a t i o n

Luxury – Likuliku• Marketing – Rosie

Holidays

• Marketing (Special Commendation) – Lance See-to

• Lifetime Achievers – Lorraine & Dave Evans

• Visionary – Tony Whitton.

Tourism pioneers Antoinette Tourism pioneers Antoinette Fifer, left, and Carol Smith were Fifer, left, and Carol Smith were also part of the awards night at also part of the awards night at Sofi tel Fiji Resort & Spa. Photo: Sofi tel Fiji Resort & Spa. Photo:

SHALENDRA PRASAD.SHALENDRA PRASAD.

Outrigger on the Lagoon head chef Shailesh Outrigger on the Lagoon head chef Shailesh Naidu, second from left, and his team collects the Naidu, second from left, and his team collects the Crest Chicken sponsored Restaurants and Din-Crest Chicken sponsored Restaurants and Din-ing (Fine Dining) award for their Ivi Restaurant. ing (Fine Dining) award for their Ivi Restaurant.

Photo: JOSEPHINE NAVULA. Photo: JOSEPHINE NAVULA. William, Scotty and Nigel caught in a jovial mood. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.William, Scotty and Nigel caught in a jovial mood. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.



2012 AON FIJI EXCELLENCE IN TOURISM AWARDS

Air Pacific, Soon To be Fiji Airways,

Congratulates all the winners of the

AON Fiji Excellence Tourism Awards 2012.

The Minister for Tourism;The Trustees of the Fiji Excellence and Tourism Awards;The Chair of the Organizing Committee of the Awards;Tourism Industry Stakeholders;Ladies and Gentlemen.Bula vinaka and good evening. I arrived back in the country this morning from my visit to

France, full of optimism about our industry and its potential to improve the lives of every Fijian.

As you know, I had the pleasure of visiting the Airbus fac-tory in France, where I inspected the fi rst of our A330-200 air-craft that

will launch the Fiji Airways brand.These three planes – the fi rst wide-bodied aircraft owned by

Fiji – will deliver millions of visitors to our shores in the com-ing years. And they will carry Brand Fiji to an expanding net-work of Fiji Airways destinations.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dave Pfl ieger once again for all he has done to revitalise Air Pacifi c and shep-herd its transformation into Fiji Airways. Thank you Dave. I wish you and your family all the best in your future endeavours.

In an industry where there is so much competition for the tourist dollar, we need to constantly monitor trends and re-in-vent ourselves in the marketplace. This is why we have de-cided to revitalise the Fiji brand– not just for Fiji Airways – but for our Tourism Industry as a whole. This year, we launched a new look for Tourism Fiji. But the change wasn’t just skin deep. Tourism Fiji has – for the fi rst time – adopted a holistic and integrated approach to marketing, branding and advertising that is sure to bring more visitors to our shores.

I’m sure that all of you share my excitement about the po-tential these developments have to grow our industry – to take the number of visitor arrivals to one million a year and beyond.

Since I last addressed you a year ago, we have all lived through the devastation caused by two natural disasters - the fl oods in early 2012 and Hurricane Evan in December.

We feared that our economy would be hit hard, and espe-cially Tourism. But I’m pleased and relieved to report that visi-tor numbers stayed remarkably buoyant. In fact, we hit a new

PM Bainimarama’s address at the 16th

AON sponsored tourism awards on Friday, February 22

record. Under adverse circumstances, this is a remarkable vote of confi dence in Fiji.

I have no doubt that this owes something to hearty “Bula” and warm smile our visitors are greeted with – the concept be-hind our new Fijian Hosts program at Nadi Airport – and the remarkable hospitality they experience throughout the rest of their trip.

Total arrivals up to November were up 4.9 per cent over the previous year. Some 606-thousand in 2012 – compared to 578-thousand in 2011 – an increase of 28-thousand. And that’s not even counting December’s fi gures.

My fellow Fijians, I am certain that you share my pride, my gratitude and relief at the way our nation faced these natural disasters.

The Fijian spirit is alive and well. And I want to again pay tribute to the various Government agencies, our partners in the business community, the ordinary men and women of our coun-try, and of course, the members of the Tourism Industry. From the owners and management who provided leadership in the times of crisis – many of whom are gathered here tonight – to all the thousands of the Industry’s staff.

The commitment of individual Fijians to a speedy return to work when many were dealing with destruction or damage to

their own homes and communities was an inspiration to us all. We know that you all have been working around the clock to

restore the damage to your properties. I am happy that Govern-ment was able to provide assistance to many of you, including cleanup troops from the RFMF. It was a team effort to get this vital sector of our economy back on its feet and we can all be proud of the result.

Tourism is benefi ting from a host of Government initia-tives – and not just our huge investment in Fiji Airways or the $150-million Momi Resort development.

In the 2013 Budget, we have made a massive investment in infrastructure, especially our roads. Our visitors – as well as ev-ery Fijian – will benefi t from this because the state of our roads has been one of the biggest impediments to economic growth.

We’re also investing heavily in agriculture, training a new generation of farmers with a view to eventually making Fiji self-suffi cient in food production. Our resorts and hotels should be proudly serving food that is Fijian-made and Fijian-grown.

With those few words, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish you all success in your various ventures and congratulate tonight’s win-ners. I also thank the sponsors and organisers of the AON Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards.

Vinaka vakalevu everyone. Enjoy the rest of the evening.

Prime Minister Commodore Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama deliv-Voreqe Bainimarama deliv-

ers his offi cial address. Photo: ers his offi cial address. Photo: JOSEPHINE NAVULA. JOSEPHINE NAVULA.

Attorney-General and Minister for Tourism Aiyaz Attorney-General and Minister for Tourism Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum with winners of the awards. Sayed-Khaiyum with winners of the awards.

Photo: JOSEPHINE NAVULA. Photo: JOSEPHINE NAVULA.



www.reviewofreligion.org

www.mta.tv

www.askislam.org

www.muslimsforpeace.org

Fax: 3370471 Ph: 3382221 Email: [email protected]

Log on to Our International

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Affiliated Websites:

If You Have Any Questions About:The Holy Prophet (pbuh)

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Death of Jesus (as)Islam and Ahmadiyyat or any other religious or general knowl-edge questions

You Can Contact Us Via Email or Phone:82 Ratu Mara Road, Samabula Suva

PEACE

KHUDDAMUL AHMADIYYA MUSLIM JAMAAT



MOTORING

alloy full alloy ra-diator, sard fuel pressure regulator, wallbro 400hp fuel pump, HKS SSQ blow off valve, after-market waste spark set up, HKS turbo timer, Autotechnica 5’’ Techogauge and Dragon Boost gauge.

As for audio the car features an AL-PINE head unit and ALPINE 6x9’s to-gether with V12 AL-PINE amplifier Type

R 12’’ subwoofer. Just to add some

extra bling the vehicle has interior and exte-rior LED lightings for night outings. The ve-hicle also has two sets of wheels which are worn to suit the place and event 225/45/R17 and 205/55/R15 (for show and for go).

The beast does not have a personalized plate as at yet as the owner is still decid-ing on the right name

and feels it is best to come on when it is fully complete.

Irshad says build-ing a car of your dreams isn’t easy and he still may not be done with the car just yet. He also has a few plans in mind which will soon come to life.

The vehicle has not participated in any FCC Drag races as at yet however the owner says he has the aspiration

to do so one day! “I never miss any

of the drag races and seeing all the racers / cars is a great motiva-tion for me. One day my car too will make its debut at the Tauno-vo Airstrip and hope-fully make a name for itself,” says Irshad.

I am quite happy with the car and it is very close to my heart. Like I said ear-lier I am just not done with it yet and am

hoping that the car keeps on surprising me like it always has.

Despite this be-ing so loved, Irshad does dream to own the legendary Nis-san Skyline R34 GTR because of its class and for the fact it’s also a Nissan…

Munauwar KhanDesign & Layout

Irshad Dean with his very own Skyfiro

hEART OF A BEAST Prole Name: Irshad DeanAge: 23 yearsRide: Nissan Cero A31 Model: 1991Car Reg: CI 559

Photo: Krishneel Chand

Being a huge Nissan fan – it was a dream of Lautoka lad Irshad Dean to own one of his own. The 23-year-old from Tomuka, Lautoka got the craze for fast cars since Primary School.

“I used to watch movies which pimped fast cars and that got me all excited wanting to own one myself,” says Irshad.

Irshad mentions that he had a soft spot for Nissan cars though he had the respect for all the different brands.

“When I bought my car, it was a very simple A31 Cefiro. I wanted to convert this to something special and extreme-ly powerful. It took me around two years to build it as a Skyfiro – a Cefiro with the heart of a Skyline!”

When asked about the conversion, Ir-shad said most per-formance parts were gifts from his cousins abroad and his dad is also in New Zealand who helps him in need so he does not have much of a prob-lem maintaining his ride as far as back-up parts is concerned.

Moving directly to the car itself: The car is a Nissan Ce-firo A31 1991 model powered by a RB-20DET motor which featured in Nissan Skyline R32 GTS-R.

Some of the good-ies on include: Short shift gearbox, complete 2.5’’ free flow HKS exhaust system,aftermarket

Photos: Courtesy of Krishneel Chand

Story By: Sharoon Shah

SKYFIRO



ANIMALS FIJI - MONTHLY FEATURE

Parvo - a deadly disease killing man’s best friend

Those cuddly, four-footed, furry friends quickly become part

of the family and it is impor-tant to keep them as healthy and disease-free as possible. Since they don’t come with manuals to guide you in their care, we hope to provide this missing information with arti-cles such as these. This news item is on Parvovirus enteritis or Parvo!

Parvo is a potentially se-vere and life-threatening in-testinal disease of dogs, es-pecially puppies. It is caused by a virus which is spread by contaminated stool (fe-ces). Dogs become infected by sniffi ng, licking or eating stool or anything touched by it. Once in the dog’s body the virus attacks rapidly divid-ing cells in the body – espe-cially those in the intestines, and bone marrow. Destroyed cells in the intestine are un-able to absorb nutrients and fl uids leading to dehydration and other debilitating symp-toms. This diseased intestine can allow bacteria and toxins to leak into the bloodstream causing further serious illness. Affected bone marrow cells include white blood cells – infection fi ghting cells in the body - leading to a signifi cant risk of infection.

The most common symp-toms include loss of appetite, vomiting, and foul-smelling, bloody diarrhea. Signs can mimic those of other diseases therefore it is important to have a veterinarian diagnose the cause. There is a specifi c test of feces for this virus if your dog shows signs of the disease.

Hospital treatment is most often required to save the puppy with parvovirus infec-tion – despite any owner’s best efforts, certain medical requirements cannot be met at home. Medications, fl uids and nutrition are administered intravenously providing the best method of treatment and support, and to avoid trig-gering nausea and vomiting. Survival rates decrease signif-

By Dr JO OLVER

icantly when a dog with par-vovirus that needs intensive care is treated at home instead of in the hospital.

There are no medications that kill the virus itself. The virus is passed in the stool for several days prior to the onset of symptoms and continues to do so for up to 2 weeks.

Dogs that survive general-ly have no permanent damage or any other long-term nega-tive effects and commonly retain an immunity to the vi-rus for an extended period of time. However this is not the preferable way to stimulate immunity to this disease in your dog – this immunity is strongly advised to be done by vaccinations.

Do not allow your unvac-cinated puppy to contact other unvaccinated dogs or to be exposed to feces in the envi-ronment. Your puppy should not be exposed to areas where other dogs defecate often (eg public areas where dogs wan-der through) until all puppy vaccines are complete – this generally is by age 16 – 20 weeks old.

All puppies should have a series of vaccinations starting around 8 – 10 weeks old which includes parvovirus. If the puppy’s mother has been vac-cinated, she will pass on im-munity to the puppies which protects them until their own vaccinations start taking ef-fect. Your veterinarian is the best source of information on the vaccination program best suited for your dog. There are only two ways of protec-tion against this disease – one is to allow your dog to get it and hope they survive it, the other is to vaccinate. Unvac-cinated dogs become a senti-nel for disease and a source of patients for the veterinar-ians – or they become a sta-tistic! Remember, the virus is extremely resistant and can remain stable in the environ-ment for years.

Call our offi ce to arrange an appointment to have your puppies and dogs vaccinated and checked up on.

Animals Fiji Clinic & Adoption Centre - A place where owners can seek treat-ment for their pets through our veterinary services as well as a welfare agency taking in strays, injured & abused animals who are treated & re-homed. We depend on the generosity of donations to maintain care of our charges, provide low cost neutering (de-sexing) and sponsor vol-

unteers who provide much needed veterinary services to Fiji.

The Animals Fiji Nadi

Clinic is on Queens Road (be-tween McDonald’s and Sitar), Martintar, Nadi.

Phone number is 670-1012

or out of hours emergency mobile is 993-6647. Our vet-erinarians are Dr Angus Black and Dr Jo Olver.

Email: info@animalsfi ji.org Website: www.animalsfi ji.org & Facebook: www.face-book.com/animalsfi ji

Dogs have been man’s best friend for centuries and are the most loyal animals found on earth. Photo: GOOGLE.

Dogs getting treatment for Parvo.

Photos: SUPPLIED.



TALK BUSINESS

By PRANESH AMARSEE

Positive stress

Bula everybody. While watching the Wellington Sev-ens Rugby I heard the Eng-land Coach telling his players at a half time “start getting worried”. He repeated this to his players more and more and I started to think what he re-ally meant. Normally we do not tell people to worry as the famous saying goes “don’t worry be happy”, but this was something unusual. Well after searching in Google I found the answer and it’s called pos-itive stress.

Chances are that if you were to ask people “what is positive stress?” you would get only a bewildered look as a response. After all, we have always been taught that stress is bad for our health and that we should avoid it whenever possible. Even so, there is in-deed such a thing as positive stress and it can have quite a benefi cial impact on our lives.

We all know what stress feels like. It is a certain sen-sation of nervousness and tension, sometimes stomach butterfl ies. It is a reaction from our bodies as the result of certain physical, mental or psychological demands which are placed on it. That is, more or less, the defi nition of the fi rst person that identifi ed

stress, Hans Seley. However, he also categorized it in good stress and harmful stress. The positive stress, also called eu-stress, is a reaction we have whenever we are faced with a demand which we can han-dle. It is a spark that can push your body to its limits in or-der to achieve a certain goal.

How does it make you feel? Anxious? Short of breath? Physically ill? Or confi dent, exhilarated and happy? For many people in the corporate world, stress is a bad thing and a performance inhibiter. But the reality is that positive stress fuels performance and positive stress is what wins gold medals.

Stress releases adrenaline into our body and gets out hearts pumping. Its stress that gives us that extra boost of energy we need for the big race. Stress that helps us crys-tallise our thoughts and focus on the task at hand. Elite ath-letes from across all fi elds of sport understand the value of positive stress and how they can use it to their advantage. And guess what? While we can sometimes get stuck wor-rying about the daily pres-sures of life, elite athletes are pushing physical and psycho-logical stress boundaries to get results, break records and win medals.

Andrew May is a perfor-mance coach who has spent the past 15 years working with elite sportspeople. An-drew is recognized as a lead-ing performance and pro-ductivity expert. For the past 15-years he has worked with clients including the Austra-lian Institute of Sport, Aus-

tralia’s First XI cricket team, Telstra, Toyota, Lend Lease, CBA and Suncorp to improve individual and team perfor-mance. Andrew delivers key-note presentations and work-shops around the world to clients including Accor, Ernst & Young, Hewlett-Packard and CB Richard Ellis. He has a blog ‘Performance Mat-ters’ for The Sydney Morn-ing Herald. Andrew is the author of bestsellers Flip the Switch, Between Jobs, The Redundancy Survival Guide; and Switched On Health and Wellbeing Professionals Vol-umes 1 & 2.

According to Andrew, here are seven ways to approach stress like an Olympian:

1. Put your oxygen mask on fi rst

Take care of number one – you. Olympians work hard for what they have and they look after 1. Eat healthily, exercise often and take time out to re-charge. Build strategic recov-ery into your life and develop your health and fi tness. No excuses. Just do it.

2. Paint a clear picture. Athletes train their minds and use visual imagery or visu-alisation. Visualisation trains athletes to imagine the ideal performance and this strength-ens the neural network. The brain doesn't distinguish be-tween a real activity and an imagined one. The Oarsome foursome used visualisation to help them win the gold medal in Atlanta. To apply this in the corporate world, if you're worried about hosting a team meeting, take ten-minutes to imagine how you'd like the meeting to go. What would

you do/say/think/act? Picture yourself nailing it.

3. Talk to yourself. Okay, so while I don't go around ev-ery day saying "Wow, you're amazing, Andy!" or "Looking good, hotshot" (well, not all the time anyway), I defi nitely use positive self-talk in times of need. Talking positively to yourself in situations when you're feeling stressed or anx-ious can help you relax, calm down and put things into per-spective. So next time you're on the treadmill pushing for another kilometre, or cram-ming to meet a deadline, tell yourself "I can do this!"

4. Get the right balance. Athletes overcome increas-ing high-pressure situations by developing coping mecha-nisms. The more pressure you face, the more coping mecha-nisms you will need in order to counterbalance the effects of stress. Managing stress in a proactive manner not only helps get through periods of high stress but also helps you to exceed expectations.

For an elite athlete coping mechanisms can be anything from kicking a ball hundreds of times a day to making sure they have time out with family and friends. For you and me it can be anything from meditat-ing on the way home on the bus to practicing a presenta-tion before you deliver it.

5. Set goals. You knew this was coming. All athletes use planning and goal-setting to help them achieve great things. So why should you be any different? Sit down with your mentor, or somebody you respect and look up to, and make a plan for what you

want to achieve. Where do you want to be next month? Next year? What are the things you would like to do? Put it down on paper and un-derstand where you're going and why it's important to you.

6. Develop a great sup-port team. The world's best athletes and sporting teams have the world's best support teams. Having a good support network can be the differ-ence between make or break in times of extreme stress. Whether its friends and fam-ily, close co-workers or even your dog, having people who will back you up and be there to take some of the pressure away is crucial. Remember, you're not in this alone. There are always people who can help. Don't be a hero. Just ask.

7. Celebrate the win. How often do you high-fi ve your-self after closing a big sale or at the end of a high-pressure project? In the sporting world, it's not uncommon for athletes to self-congratulate at the completion of, or even during, a tough goal.

But, in the corporate world we have forgotten the art of celebration and congratulat-ing ourselves on milestones, goals and even just plain hard

work. Reward and recognise yourself and take time out to refl ect on your success. Sa-vour it. You earned it.

How do you use stress to help you perform? When-ever you feel positive stress, you are encouraged to act. Whether this means growing, fi ghting, changing or adapting is up to you, but you will not remain complacent. In other words, positive stress makes us do things we would not normally do. It gives us that extra impulse to take risks such as asking your boss for a promotion or inviting that girl you like on a date. It can be argued that life would not only be much more boring, but also less fi lled with ac-complishments if we did not experience positive stress. From a medical standpoint, a lack of stress can actually be potentially damaging because it causes boredom and lack of motivation. This can lead to unfulfi lled desires and wasted potential. In turn, these issues can put people at risk of de-pression and problems with low self esteem. That is why positive stress is good for us. It stimulates our bodies and helps us take that extra step further. God bless Nadi, Fiji.

Nadi’s Rusiate Matarerega, left, under Nadi’s Rusiate Matarerega, left, under stress to perform against Suva at stress to perform against Suva at

Prince Charles Park. Prince Charles Park. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.



HUMAN RESOURCES

Recognise that profi t is in your people - Part 3

By SUNILA KARAN

This comes from great leadership, from rec-ognizing the essen-

tial asset that your people are, and the direct link between your people and your bottom-line profi ts.

Sadly, however, all too many companies fail to see this obvious connection and under invest in their staff.

They fail to train and de-velop their staff, and fail to get the best from them.

It’s fair to say in many or-ganizations more is spent on the printing and stationery budget than on the people de-velopment budget to get the most from their staff, which in my opinion is lunacy.

Especially when evidence is so overwhelming that the more investment, time, and development which is put into people, the greater the results and the profi ts that come into an organization.

It has been found that staff who received formal training are up to 230% more produc-tive than untrained colleagues working in the same role. (Source: Smith A., 2001, Re-turn on Investment (ROI) : Research Readings, NCVER).

Another study showed that the medium revenue per head of employees who had 5 or fewer days of training per year was $137,913, compared to $210,380 from those who

had more than 5 days of train-ing. (Source: A joint research project by not for profi t re-search organization –APQC and IBM and Workforce Man-agement.)

Companies spend small fortunes trying to attract and recruit the best staff and sin-gle out candidates who are well trained and have shown a keenness to develop them-selves. So they clearly value training when recruiting, but don’t seem to like it so much when they have to pay for it for their employees.

Look at any company’s P&L account and you’ll see that salary costs are often one of the largest (if not the larg-est) expense, yet once an em-ployee comes on board, many companies fail to continue investing in their staff, to take their performance to a higher level.

When I mention this to managers, occasionally I re-ceive the response of, “What if I train my staff and they leave?”

My answer to them is, “What if you don’t train them and they stay!”

Failing to invest in your staff is economic and business suicide.

Without people develop-ment, and investing in your staff, the direction of your company will be downwards. In a garden which isn’t main-tained, weeds will grow and develop – and in people, bad

habits occur and complacency creeps in.

The right type of people

development, which works on employees’ attitudes and mind-set, breaks down limit-

ing beliefs, focuses employees on the goals of the company, and reinvigorates them and

makes them customer-centric, has a massive payback for your company.

80 local Air Pacifi c aircraft engineers 80 local Air Pacifi c aircraft engineers and engineering support staff have and engineering support staff have

completed an intensive Airbus training completed an intensive Airbus training and familiarisation course, permitting and familiarisation course, permitting them to operate and certify the A330 them to operate and certify the A330

aircraft. Photo: AIR PACIFIC.aircraft. Photo: AIR PACIFIC.



BUSINESS NEWS

Chamber plans awards night

By SHALENDRA PRASAD

NCCI board-members during the fi rst meeting of the year at Nadi Downtown Hotel. Sitting from left are Lydia O’Neill, Dr NCCI board-members during the fi rst meeting of the year at Nadi Downtown Hotel. Sitting from left are Lydia O’Neill, Dr Ram Raju (president) and Elizabeth Maki. Standing from left are Vijendra Pillay, Samuel Shankar, Shalendra Prasad, Ram Raju (president) and Elizabeth Maki. Standing from left are Vijendra Pillay, Samuel Shankar, Shalendra Prasad,

Gary Raniga, Shaneel Nandan, Anand Achari and Commander Semi Koroilavesau. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.Gary Raniga, Shaneel Nandan, Anand Achari and Commander Semi Koroilavesau. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.

The Nadi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NCCI) is con-tinuing to lead by example.

Already dubbed as the ‘most vibrant’ of all business cham-bers in the country by Minister for Commerce Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Commerce Commission chairman Dr Narendra Reddy, NCCI is now embarking on launching its fi rst ever an-nual awards event – another fi rst for a chamber in Fiji.

“Chamber business awards are quite popular overseas (Dis-trict and National level) and I have taken the initiative to orga-nize one for the fi rst time,” NCCI president Dr Ram Raju said.

“This obviously requires your support and participation as this belongs to you and targeting mainly the SME’s (small and medium enterprises).”

Dr Raju has outlined the various awards categories (as listed below) for members to look at and also make valuable inputs for the inaugural awards.

“FNU has agreed to provide expertise (partial sponsorship) as scrutinizers or judges and a few companies have pledged support already,” Dr Raju added.

“If all goes well, this function will be held later this year. I have also outlined below sponsorship proposal that you could perhaps help me in securing one or two. Feel free to pass this information to potential sponsors and do let me know if more details are needed by anyone.”

The following categories are outlined: 1. Best emerging business2. Excellence in service delivery3. Excellence in retailing4. Entrepreneur of the year5. Excellence in entertainment business6. Excellence in marketing 7. Excellence in exporting8. Best restaurant of the year9. Most improved business house10. Businessman of the year11. Businesswoman of the year12. Best tourist tour operator13. Best performance in primary industry“There is likely to be three more categories or we may trim

it down depending on sponsors and response from FNU,” Dr Raju said.

“The awards target the SME’s whose roles and achievements are to be recognized, appreciated and honored as well. They (SME’s) will feel proud of their role who are otherwise often neglected.

“The awards night rewards excellence in businesses and cel-ebrates and recognizes the greater value it brings to Nadi and Fiji as a whole.

“The awards will highlight excellence in business and up-lift the image setting a benchmark for everyone. It helps the employees to see the value of their work and celebrate their success story.

“Members of NCCI will be invited to apply for any of the awards befi tting them. It will allow members to identify their business strengths and review their performance in a bid to ex-cel them on a regular basis.

“An awards event of this nature will uplift the professional image, morale and spirit. Following the fl ooding disaster of 2009 and devastatingly much more worse in 2012, the business community in Nadi have shown great courage, wisdom and spirit, persevered and worked really hard with fi rm conviction.

“And despite withstanding losses yet again, the vast majority chose to stay and rebuild their shattered businesses and lives. The resilience displayed once again is truly admirable.

“We are witnessing a resurgence of hope and glory fuelled by confi dence in this township to do business as usual.

“None of the SME’s mind you had any form of fl ood insur-ance cover and all of them deserve to be recognized and praised.

“They have brought back smiles and hope to thousands of employees who are largely dependent on hourly and weekly wages.

“We have close to 250 members with diverse range of busi-nesses and I feel this Awards event will be an opportune time to thank everyone who has made Nadi proud once again,” Dr Raju concluded.

The details of the sponsorship are as follows: Major or Gold sponsorship $10K which gives you naming rights, widest and maximum publicity hence mileage. Co-sponsorship (Silver) is $5K that still gives you naming rights NCCI / Business Awards. Prize only is $1K (Bronze).

Attorney-General and minister for commerce Aiyaz Sayed-Attorney-General and minister for commerce Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, right, shares a light moment with Dr Ram Raju in Khaiyum, right, shares a light moment with Dr Ram Raju in

an earlier forum. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.an earlier forum. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.



KIDS CORNER



BUSINESS NOTICE BOARD



SPORTS

From villager to national ruggerFrom villager to national ruggerUlaiasi Lawavou talks about his ups and downs with The Jet



“We would try our best not to miss out on any of it…we’d put the T.V and engine at the back of the truck and drove up hill to get a better reception, just to watch the live perfor-mance from the Hong Kong 7s,” Jope Tavu-cuilagi recalls about the good old days with son, national sevens rep, Ulaiasi Lawavou.

Being brought up in the village, national sevens rep Ulaiasi Lawavou started commit-ting himself to rugby at a young age.

“I had left school after completing class eight at Nawaicoba Public School, and start-ed playing for the village team, Nahehevia Rugby Club,” Lawavou said.

Hailing from Vunamoli Village in the highlands of Nadi, Lawavou started playing for the Nahehevia 15-a-side team at the age of fi fteen and later joined the Nadi Rugby team for fi ve years. From there, he went to play for the Nadroga rugby team.

“It took a lot of commitment and sacri-fi ce to play rugby at this level, and I’m really thankful to my family for their support and understanding,” he said.

For any upcoming rugby player, Lawa-vou had to make a tough decision, switching from 15’s to 7’s.

“It was a huge step for me to play sevens rugby for the very fi rst time at the Goldmine 7s in Vatukoula for the Western Force Police Team,” he said.

Nadroga Coach, Esala Nauga saw the po-tential in Lawavou and asked him if he had any interest of joining the national team.

“I gave him a choice to choose whether he had wanted to try out for the Fiji team and he said he did, he wanted to try off with sevens fi rst. So I told him to go for the fi tness test,” Nauga said.

It was from there, Lawavou had started his rugby career for the national team after being selected to be one of the players representing the country at the Gold Coast 7s, last year.

Proud father, Jope Tavucuilagi said he was really happy to hear of his sons’ success in the sport he loved the most.

“I cried with joy when I heard that Ulai had been chosen to the team, being the fi rst gentlemen in our village to represent Fiji, he has made us really proud - I knew that all the sacrifi ce we had made together has paid out.

“I remember when Ulai had left school at a young age, I felt like I couldn’t do any-thing much so instead I took him to all rugby tournaments. From here I think his desire for rugby had been developed,” he said.

Ever since he was a kid, he had always had that dream of wanting to be on that fi eld, to be watched and most importantly to represent his country, especially in the mother of all 7s tournaments.

“To be chosen to represent Fiji at the Hong Kong 7s for the fi rst time is a dream come true for me, I would like to thank the Lord and the coaches for believing in me, it wasn’t easy as we also had other talented players and to be chosen amongst one of them is a privilege,” said Lawavou.

Now married to Ivamere Lewanitoga La-wavou, the father of two plans to improve on his skills and will do his best to bring the Hong Kong 7s trophy back home.

“We are going there not underestimating any team, as they will also try and win this special tournament, but we will play to the best of our ability and try to stay positive,” he said.

Ulaiasi with his eldest daughter Jokaveti, 8, in Nadi Town. Photo:

JOSEPHINE NAVULA.

Defending champs retain title

Fiji Bitter Nawaka 7s ended its 26th tournament successfully, after defending champions Westfi eld defeated Tale Babas at the Cup fi nal, 31-7, in Prince Charles Park, Nadi on Saturday, March 2.

It was a tough battle be-tween the two teams, but Westfi eld secured their victory after scoring fi ve tries, leaving Tale Babas with one.

Westfi eld President, Ponijese Lou said they have been confi dent from the be-ginning.

“We were taking one match as it comes as we are the de-fending champions for Nawa-ka 7s, we were confi dent from the start from day 1 that we will retain our title.”

Tale Babas coach Iliesa Delasau said they have been preparing for a long time.

“We have been nurturing players from the Milo Kaji competition right up to the Fiji Secondary School Deans competition than they make it up to the squad,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fiji Bitter Nawaka 7s president Mataiasi Nabau said the tournament was a success.

“It has been a great and successful tournament, as the

organizer of the tournament we are very happy with the crowd turnout and the number of players participating. We would like to thank Pacifi c Beverages for the sponsorship this year.”

In other fi nals, all the way from Sigatoka, Ratu Filise defeated Koroba, 15-5 to win the shield title. Bowl fi nal was dominated by Fiji Police, 27-5, against Yamacia. Red Rock won the plate fi nal against Western Police, 17-7.



SPORTS

Cricket Fiji has selected its fi nal 14 players that will repre-sent the country to the World Cricket League Division 7 Tournament in Botswana from the 4th to the 14th of April.

The squad consists of 10 players that travelled to Auck-land earlier in the year for the East Asia Pacifi c Mens T20 World Cup Qualifi er where

Cricket Fiji announce squadthe side fi nished 3rd.

Cricket Fiji High Perfor-mance Manager, Joe Rika who is also in the touring squad says that the squad have been together since November last year and look forward to the all important tournament in April.

The top 2 teams from the competition will qualifi er to

compete in the Division 6 tournament which will be played in Jersey later in the year.

“The side will have to co-captains that will take the side and is full of experienced players which will be of great benefi t to the side during the competition” Fiji Coach, Joeli Mateyawa.

The Fiji squad will de-part our shores on the 27th of March and will get a week to prepare before competition begins.

The 4 Military personal that were denied visas to com-pete in the Auckland compe-tition have been selected and will add that extra fi re power in the batting and bowling as-

pects of the team. “Its great to have the boys

in the side, they bring a lot of energy and experience with them and I’m sure they’ll do well when given the opportu-nity” said Mateyawa.

The 14 players selected for WCL 7; Colin Rika, Greg Browne, Iniasi Cakacaka, Sekove Ravoka, Viliame Ya-

baki, Joji Bulabalavu, Jone Seuvou (Co-Captain), Joe Rika (Co-Captain), Samuela Draunivudi, Vuiyasawa Ma-teiwaqa, Tukana Tavo, Kitio-ne Tavo, Jikoi Kida, Sevuni-vola Baba. Reserves

Eric Browne, Tomasi Nawaciono, Noa Acawei, Seci Tuiwai.

PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE

After a lapse of ten years, Sikhs from around Fiji turned up in numbers to compete at the Sikh North-West Tournament at the Christian Hall grounds in Nadi, on Sunday, March 10.

Fiji Sikh Association President, Bayant Singh said he is very grateful to the people who have worked hard to make it a suc-cessful tournament.

“I take this opportunity to thank Nadi Khalsa Association for successfully hosting the tournament,” Mr Singh said.

“Special thanks to Ravin Ray Singh, Rashmir Singh and Gurdip Singh for their timeless efforts in getting everything organized in time. I also thank Fiji Sikh Football Association executives for their support and running the tournament suc-cessfully.

“Special thanks to the grounds committee for kindly allow-ing us to use the school grounds and premises for the one-day event. The Sikh Association of Fiji members also supported throughout the day and the Lautoka Sikh Temple management also offered their support and blessings,” Mr said.

The Tournament ended with Tavua in fi rst place, Nadi sec-ond, followed by Ba in third and Nadroga in fourth place.

The results of the tournament are as follows; Game 1; Ba 4-0 Nadroga, Game 2; Nadi 0-2 Tavua, Game 3; Tavua 3-1 Ba, Game 4; Nadi 6-0 Nadroga, Game 5;Tavua 3-0 Nadroga, Game 6; Ba 0-1 Nadi.

The tournament was hosted by Nadi Khalsa Association.

Sikh soccer revives after a decade

By JOSEPHINE NAVULA

By JOSEPHINE NAVULA

Nadi Andhra FC start season on a highNadi Andhra FC start season on a highNewly promoted super-premier side Nadi Andhra FC started their fi rst local Newly promoted super-premier side Nadi Andhra FC started their fi rst local league clash on a high after beating Qeleloa Youth 2-1 during the opening league clash on a high after beating Qeleloa Youth 2-1 during the opening

rounds on Sunday, March 10. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.rounds on Sunday, March 10. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.

Youngsters stamp a mark in Local League

Young players came out to prove themselves as the Nadi Football Local League was launched today at Prince Charles Park, Nadi.

The Allan Thomas Man-agement Services (ATMS) sponsored league kick started today with three matches in Ground two, today.

Nadi FA Local League Di-rector, Mohammed Nasir said the game is a good opportu-nity for the young players to showcase their talents and ca-

pabilities.“The matches have been

really good, and this is where the Nadi Football Associa-tion selects the best players to represent the district side,” he said.

Foodhall Gandhi Lionz de-feated Kings Football in the opening match, 2-1, followed by Aries Warriors victory over AIMS Rental Navakai, 2-1.

In the fi nal match of the day, newly promoted Nadi Andhra won against Qeleloa Youth, 2-1.

Nadi Andhra also won

the best dressed team title earlier today at the opening ceremony. Nadi FA Patron and Executive Chairman for Jacks of Fiji, Dilip Khatri was chief guest at the function. His company is also the ma-jor sponsor of the Nadi district side this year.

Nadi Football Local league consists of Super Premier and Premier teams, with a total of 25 clubs.

ATMS Australia Eels are the defending champions for the Super Premier Division, whereas, Nadi Andhra who

the Premier title are now in the top division.

Meanwhile, two Nadi foot-ball reps, Amani Makoe and Eliki Ravusai played for the Foodhall Gandhi Lionz.

Local League director Mohammed Nasir

The Outrigger on the La-goon • Fiji have joined forces again as major sponsors of the Nadroga Rugby Union for the 2013 season.

As major sponsors of the team the Nadroga Stallions will be known as the Outrig-ger on the Lagoon • Fiji Nad-roga Stallions.

The offi cial naming rights ceremony was held on Thurs-day 21st March, 2013 at the resort in Korotogo.

Outrigger on the Lagoon Fiji sponsors stallions Representatives of Tappoo

Fiji Limited as the offi cial merchandise sponsors of the champion side was present at the launch with the other mi-nor sponsors which include Presidio Capital, Coastal Rentals, Maui Bay, KBL Bus-es, Geckos Trucking and Siga-toka Electric.

Outrigger on the Lagoon • Fiji General Manager Peter Hopgood stated that, “we are so excited to seal the naming

rights deal again this year with our champion team the Nad-roga Stallions.”

“The Nadroga Stallions en-capsulate the Outrigger on the Lagoon • Fiji values of team-work, family and hard work and we are very proud that the team will carry our name and through this our values,” Mr Hopgood added.

Nadroga Rugby Union President Tiko Matawalu said, “The Nadroga Rugby Union

players, offi cials and fans are grateful to the Outrigger on the Lagoon • Fiji for the sponsorship that will ensure another successful season for the Stallions. We look forward to continuing this partnership with the Outrigger because it is defi nitely a winning combi-nation for Nadroga.”



Visiting club impressed with local talentsVanuatu’s Amicale Foot-

ball Club received tough com-petition for their O-League build-up playing against local teams.

In their fi rst encounter the visitors which was laced with international players edged Nadi 2-1 on their home turf on Sunday, March 10.

A foul by Nadi’s Amani Makoe on Amicale FC’s Jack Whitney proved costly as Amicale FC’s Pape Gueye did not waste time to kick in the opener for the visitor’s min-utes before half time. Amicale FC lead 1-0 at breather.

Pape Gueye scored again in the fi rst 13 minutes of the sec-ond half to extend their lead, 2-0.

The Green Machine bounced back after Uraia Loki scored a goal in the last few minutes of the game and the jetsetters applied great pres-sure on the visitors before full-time.

Amicale FC Technical Ad-viser, Robert Calvo said they will need to work on their speed after today’s match.

By SHALENDRA PRASAD

By JOSEPHINENAVULA

“We will need to improve on the speed of the game; we were playing a bit slow today. But we will need to increase the tempo of our games. But overall, it was a good game. We were awarded a penalty in the fi rst half, and were lucky to score early in the fi rst sec-ond half,” he said.

Jack’s Nadi team made a good comeback at the second half, but it was not enough un-til the fi nal whistle.

“It was not easy to keep control of the game but we had a good and successful fi rst half,” Calvo said.

Nadi FA head-coach, Ka-mal Swamy said the game was a good exposure for his boys.

“It was the great experi-ence for the Nadi team, as the young boys came out to play with good performance,” he said.

In their second clash against the National Under-20 side, the Amicale FC tasted their fi rst loss 2-1 but regained confi dence in the fi nal friendly against Lautoka, winning 2-0.

The side meets Solomon Islands champions, Solomon Warriors in their fi rst match at the Oceania League.

Nadi’s Ratu Veresa Toma, right, in action against Nadi’s Ratu Veresa Toma, right, in action against the visiting Vanuatu side Amicale FC at Prince the visiting Vanuatu side Amicale FC at Prince

Charles Park on Sunday, March 10. Photo: Charles Park on Sunday, March 10. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.SHALENDRA PRASAD.

The visiting Amicale FC of Vanuatu. Photo: The visiting Amicale FC of Vanuatu. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.SHALENDRA PRASAD.

The home side Jacks Nadi. Photo: SHALENDRA The home side Jacks Nadi. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.PRASAD.

Boxers return to the ring

Visiting Australia based Filipino boxer Ray Orlate gets a Visiting Australia based Filipino boxer Ray Orlate gets a taste of Opeti Tagi’s hard punches during their main bout taste of Opeti Tagi’s hard punches during their main bout fi ght at Prince Charles Park on Saturday, March 16. Photo: fi ght at Prince Charles Park on Saturday, March 16. Photo:

VARANISESE NASILASILA.VARANISESE NASILASILA.

Fiji’s Opeti Tagi lost to a strong fi ght against Australia based Filipino boxer Ray Orlate at Prince Charles Park in Nadi on Saturday, March 16.

Orlate said it was a good fi ght compared to the last one he fought to local champ Junior Farzan Ali.

“Tagi is pretty much a good fi ghter, this would have to be the toughest fi ght compared to my fi ght against Farzan when I came earlier on to fi ght here,” he said.

Orlate started strong and was a tough opponent throughout the 12 rounds of fi ght for 31-year-old Tagi.

Tagi fell in the ring three times during the fi ght.Tagi said it was a good fi ght and he accepted the defeat and

plans to improve from it in fi ghts to come.Meanwhile in other fi ghts of the Naidiri Boxing Promotion,

Napoleon Tamaaepeon knocked out Alipate Nagata in the fi rst round, Franco Fraser won by 3rd round technical knockout against Iasia Raqila, Ronald Naidu defeated Waisale Ratu on points, Ravneet Ton Ton lost to Ram Sami on points, Sachin Mudliar won against Azmat Manna on points, Junior Manna de-feated Arjun Kumar on points while Junior Naivogo and Junior Maku fought to a draw.

Meanwhile the boxing promoters had to fl y in Orlate from Australia after Junior Farzan Ali claimed to be injured and unfi t to meet Tagi in the main bout.

The Jet Volume 5 Number 3

Documents

Transcript of The Jet Volume 5 Number 3