Baru finishes second in Oceania Cup

Papua New Guinea weightlifter Morea Baru has finished runner-up at the 2026 Oceania Cup Finals held recently in Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia.

Fresh from winning a bronze medal for PNG at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in Scotland, Baru competed in the event, which ran alongside the Victorian Weightlifting Championship.

In the Oceania Weightlifting Federation-sanctioned event, Baru lifted 120kg in the snatch and 155kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 275kg.

His performance earned him a score of 411.023, calculated using the Sinclair Coefficient.

Baru finished behind Fiji’s Taniela Rainibogi, who was named the overall Oceania Cup champion. Rainibogi is also a recent gold medallist from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the Men’s 110kg division.

Nauru’s Ezekiel Moses, another Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, finished third.

Meanwhile, PNG’s other weightlifters also made progress in the earlier sessions of the tournament.

Thelma Toua lifted 65kg in the snatch and 80kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 145kg. She recorded a total score of 226.011 in the Women’s 49kg division.

Twenty-four-year-old Bau Doura lifted 95kg in the snatch and 126kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 221kg. His total score was 328.519 in the Men’s 65kg division.

Dika Toua also recorded lifts of 68kg in the snatch and 85kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 153kg. Her total score was 223.054.

The Women’s overall title went to Samoa’s 18-year-old Steine Stowers, who continued her strong form after winning gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The Oceania Cup is one of several sanctioned events in the region as athletes prepare for the 2027 Pacific Games in Tahiti and other qualifying tournaments leading up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in the United States.