Tonga's Kiwi connection targeting boxing gold at Commonwealth Games

Fili Maka is taking of his two fighters to the Commonwealth Games, and they just happen to be family.

Wellsford, north of Auckland, will have divided loyalties when the Commonwealth Games get underway on the Gold Coast, with a heavy representation in the Tongan team.

Fili Maka, who trains out of the Wellsford Boxing Sport and Fitness Club, left for Queensland yesterday to take up a role as assistant coach of the Tongan boxing team at the games.

His daughter, Magan Maka, will fight in the 69kg class - having represented New Zealand in Glasgow - and nephew Tui Vea, will take part in his first major international competition in the 60kg category.

Both of them train under Fili Maka, with his daughter first picking up the gloves when she was 11.

"It's a blessing for me as a trainer to see the results of the fighters working hard," he said.

"They both deserve to be where they are at the moment."

Watch FULL LIVE COVERAGE of the 21st Commonwealth Games free-to-air on TVNZ from April 4, 2018.

Fili Maka said Magan, 24, was highly regarded as a scientific boxer, who used her skills and smarts to out fight her rivals.

Magan Maka will headline Tonga's boxing team on the Gold Coast, alongside her dad and assistant coach Fili and his nephew Tui Vea.

She was a four-times New Zealand champion, but had struggled in recent years to find enough opponents willing to take her on.

She would carry the Tongan flag at the opening ceremony, and said she was primed to make an impact at her second Commonwealth Games.

"I think I'm four years wiser, because I know what to expect. I think I have a good chance of coming back with a medal. A gold medal. That's everybody's goal, it's who works the hardest and who wants it the most.

"I believe I can do so."

Vea, 18, had only recently made the step up to elite level competition, and Fili Maka said he simply out-worked opponents. 

Magan Maka and Vea would be joined on the Gold Coast by three other fighters - Salote Huni (women's 75kg), John Moleni (men's 69kg) and Samuela Kei (men’s +91kg).

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