HAN LEMALU CROWNED KING OF THE TEUILA SIVA AFI COMPETITION 2023

King of the Teuila Fire Knife Dance Competition 2023, Han Lemalu of Matautu Lefaga. (Photo: Suitama Manuele)

19-year-old Han Lemalu from the village of Matautu Lefaga is this year's king of the Teuila's Fire Knife Dance Competition.

In an interview with Eyespy Radio, the youngster conveyed that he practiced the art of fire knife dancing when he was just 10 years old.

He placed 4th in last year's Teuila fire knife dance competition, but this year he has been crowned the champion of the prestigious event; a feat he has dreamt of achieving ever since he first started competing in past siva afi contests.

"Words cannot express how happy I am to receive this honor. This is a correlation of all the hard work and effort I've put into practice while preparing for this event in the past few months.

"I want to thank my parents and my family for the support because without them I would not have accomplished anything," he stated.

Han is an old pupil of Church College Pesega and captained the school's First XV rugby team last year.

The young man is truly talented as he is also an athlete set to represent Samoa at the Pacific Games scheduled to be held in Honiara, Solomon Islands between 19 November and 2 December of this year, and is also a boxer.

He is currently enrolled at the National University of Samoa and is working part-time at the Return to Paradise Resort as a fire knife dancer and is the son of Mr. Lemalu Matagi and Mrs. Fa'amele Matagi from Matautu Lefaga.