Fiji referee Ravinesh Kumar is among a three member Oceania Football Confederation referees panel selected to officiate at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next month.
The 27 year old Ba native who accompanies Tahitian referee Norbert Hauata and Mark Rule of New Zealand will get his first taste of action outside the Oceania region.
Kumar, Hauata and Rule were put through their paces under the watchful eyes of OFC’s FIFA referee development officer Massimo Raveino and fitness instructor Bertrand Billon in Auckland last week.
Michael Hester, who made history in South Africa by becoming the first New Zealander to referee a senior men’s FIFA World Cup game, was also at Mt Smart Stadium for the testing and helped make sure everything went smoothly.
The tests included both endurance running and shorter sprints, and each member of the trio proved their fitness is up to scratch by passing.
The trip to Auckland for the testing was his first visit to New Zealand and he is looking forward to getting another stamp on his passport in Singapore.
“I am very excited about going,” he says. “Up until now, I have only been involved in O-League matches and national tournaments in Fiji,” he told the OFC site.
Kumar is in his fifth year of refereeing and his goal is to emulate Hester by making it to a FIFA World Cup.
“It’s every referee’s dream and I am no different. The next one in 2014 might be too early for me because I am still only young but that’s what I’m going to aim for,” he says.
Kumar did not find the fitness tests too challenging but had more of an issue with the chilly nature of the mid-winter Auckland weather.
“I am finding it very cold,” he says.
Nobert Hauata, who will be the man in the middle in Singapore, has a lot more experience under his belt and is a veteran of several O-League finals. He has controlled the final three times – in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The 31-year-old has also taken charge of Olympic qualification games, as well as qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cups.
Mark Rule was one of Hester’s assistant referees at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa – the other was fellow New Zealander Jan Hendrik-Hintz - and has also been involved with O-League matches.
He was on standby for the 2010 FIFA World Cup as the reserve assistant referee for Hester’s OFC trio, which officiated in the Group B clash between Korea Republic and Greece.
Hauata, Kumar and Rule will not be the only ones flying the flag for OFC at the Youth Olympics.
The U-15 Papua New Guinea women’s team and a male Vanuatu side from the same age-group will also be in Singapore.
Vanuatu was selected following the establishment of a youth academy as part of the FIFA Goal Football Programme while Papua New Guinea were chosen on the back of strong performances over the past couple of years.
These successes included a gold medal at the XIII South Pacific Games in Samoa in 2007, a competition that is part of the Olympic movement.
The Youth Olympics will be held from August 14 to 26.
News on
RSS 
