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Fe'ofa'aki Epenisa: 'Little brown girl from Vava'u' carries Tonga boxing to the Olympics
Tonga's first female boxer to qualify for the Olympic Games says she will be going all out to fight for the Pacific in Paris.
Fe'ofa'aki Epenisa, 28, told American media she is excited about what it means for her to be making the trip to France.
In an interview with KSAT 12 Sports, Aki, as she is known in the boxing circle, said she could not have been happier when she heard the news.
Making it to an Olympic is a feat it in itself, but doing so as the first-ever female boxer from Tonga in history is groundbreaking.
"It was just so surreal because, initially, I thought that my journey had come to an end," she told KSAT 12.
"Little did I know, destiny had another path for me. When I found out, I was in disbelief and just excited. Overwhelmed.
"Given that I am Tongan, Samoan, and a descendant of Fijians, I just feel honored and proud. You know, not too many of us make it out there to the world stage, and I'm just so excited to carry the pride of our people on to France."
Aki moved to San Antonia from Oakland recently.
While chasing a medal would be on her mind, the fact that she could influence a whole generation of Pasifika female boxers in the islands weighs on her.
She said she was aware of the potential impact on those who would be watching from her homeland and the islands when she took centre stage at the Olympics.
"I take my training so seriously because I know a lot of youths are looking up to me," Aki said.
"Some young islander kid from the island of Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Solomon Islands could be watching me. And, you know what, whether it's boxing or something else they want to pursue and put their heart into, I hope they see me, and they want to go after their dreams and their goals."
Her team plan to fly to San Francisco on 21 July before getting a direct flight to Paris to compete in the Olympics.
Aki has set a up GoFundMe page to support her journey to the Olympics.
"Never could I have imagined a little brown girl from Vava'u, running barefoot through the streets of Masilamea and Leimatu'a, lole sainisi stains on her fingers, scares from dogs and mosquito bites and scratches often from a tree-climbing endeavour involving a neighbour's fruit tree; would one day carry Tonga boxing onto a world stage-the Olympics," she wrote on her fundraising page.
While she is the first Tongan female boxer to compete at the Games, she has big shoes to fill.
Fellow Tongan Paea Wolfgramm won a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games, the super heavyweight being the only Tongan to date to have won an Olympic medal.
The Olympic Games website described Wolfgramm's achievement in 1996 where he upset some of the world's best in his weight category before losing out in the final.
The website said "in the final he not only had to contend with a formidable opponent in Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko, he also had to cope with the broken nose and broken wrist he had suffered in his bout with Dokiwari.
"Despite the obvious pain he was in, Wolfgramm was adamant that he couldn't pull out - after all, he had an entire country praying for him and urging him on. - He put up an excellent performance in the first two rounds, trailing only 3-2.
"The final round, though, saw the Ukrainian dominate to win 7-3. Wolfgramm would have to settle for silver, but that was still a quite astonishing achievement for a boxer who had arrived in Atlanta with almost no pedigree in elite sport, and who had persevered through the pain barrier.
"Tonga's first Olympic medal was celebrated wildly throughout the 169 different islands that make up the country!"
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