TWO Tongan athletes, Taniela Tufunga and Bruno Banani arrived in Germany on September 5th to prepare for their first Luge test runs of the season.
A news release from the Tonga Luge Associaton on 10 October said that the Tongan National Luge Team was in Norway where it tested luge track at temperatures around the freezing point, together with the national teams of India, Hungary and Slovenia. The Tongan athletes aimed to familiarize themselves with different World Cup tracks.
The next stops for the Tongan teams will be Sigulda in Latvia, Altenberg in Germany and Calgary and Vancouver, Canada.
Luge is an Olympic Winter Sport, and question may be asked, why the South Pacific Kingdom has Luge athletes when there is no snow or ice on the Tongan islands.
The Luge Association of the Kingdom of Tonga's answer is "Why Not?"
Bruno Banani on the Luge track
Of the 50 nations that currently compete in Luge only 9 have their own Luge tracks. The remaining 41 nations share the existing tracks as does Tonga.
In Luge athletes could travel at a speed of up to 90 mph when riding down the track on their sled. Luge athletes must have high athleticism to master the extreme centrifugal forces, and a certain fearlessness in general. Both requirements lie within the Tongan genes. The first test run by the Tongan Luge athletes surprised Luge experts, and the Luge Association of the Kingdom of Tonga is optimistic of a superb performance by the Tongan team.
