Two Tongan Referees at Olympics [1]
Sunday, August 14, 2016 - 20:05. Updated on Sunday, August 14, 2016 - 21:47.
By Finau Fonua
There are two referees from Tonga at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Lata Kaumatule (31) and Tevita Makasini (39) are both assistant referees in Olympic Soccer competition (Association Football), Lata officiating the Women’s Olympic Soccer tournament and Tevita officiating the Men’s Olympic Soccer tournament. Lata and Tevita are the only Pacific Islanders out of 32 referees and 56 assistant referees at the Rio Olympic’s Soccer event.
Lata has so far officiated two games at Rio Olympics including a quarter final match between the United States and Sweden yesterday August 13. Lata began her refereeing career in 2009 and has so far officiated 10 international matches including two games at the 2015 Women Football World Cup last year.
Lata’s younger sister Paita Lelenga is also a soccer referee and the first FIFA woman international referee from Tonga. Both sisters began their referee training in Tonga.
Tevita Vea, the Head of Refereeing in Tonga stated earlier this year in a press release “These sisters, are role models for the young women referees in Tonga. They both reached their goals to become FIFA International Match Officials. This is the outcome of their hard work and commitment through refereeing development and its pathways”.
The Rio 2016 Olympics is the second Olympic games for Tevita Makasini, having worked as an Assistant Referee at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He has been officiating international games since 2007 and has worked at numerous high level tournaments including the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the U20 FIFA World Cup in New Zealand last year 2015. Tevita has so far officiated two games at the Rio Olympics, a pool game between Nigeria and Sweden on August 7 and a pool game between Portugal and Algeria on August 10.