Athletics Fiji is delighted to announce that Fiji’s top female sprinter, Heleina Young, has been awarded a three-year scholarship to do a Bachelor of Business at the Griffith University Business School in Queensland, Australia.
Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) High Performance Coordinator, Allison Fairweather said in a statement that the panel of judges was unanimous in their decision and they were very impressed with Heleina’s conduct throughout her interview.
“Athletics Fiji can be very proud of Heleina, her application was outstanding, and she had obviously done her homework regarding the scholarship and was well prepared for the phone interview,”
Alison Fairweather
Young has been creating waves in the athletics arena around the region and caught the eye of OAA when she became the fastest high school athlete in Fiji to go under 12 seconds at the 2018 Coca Cola Games. A feat, which has her sitting No.2 on the Fiji All-Time list behind Makelesi Bulikiobo.
Since then, Heleina has continued to threaten the dominance of PNG female sprinters at various regional meets, more recently at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, and is fast becoming a household name for Pacific sprinting. Heleina has shown a lot of promise for Fiji and the region.
The scholarship offers funding to study business with an emphasis on Sports Management. Heleina will also have the opportunity to compete around Australia and train with OAA sprints coach, Tony Fairweather.
Given her outstanding track record of being able to balance her role as a national athlete as well as the expectations of being a student, it’s no surprise that Heleina was awarded the scholarship.
Young is expected to commence studies on 24th of February 2020 and will leave for the OAA High Performance Training Center where she will be residing for the duration of her studies and training.
Well done,hard work pays off
Congratulations Young.. God bless