Toea Wisil strong candidate for Rio Olympics

Papua New Guinea sprint Queen Toea Wisil is a strong candidate hoping to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Athletics PNG will select one female and one male athlete for the Games under the universality rule.

Universality rule guarantees every Olympic Committee a place for one male and one female athlete regardless of qualifying standards.

APNG president Tony Green says Wisil is in the drivers seat for selection if no one runs a qualifying time.

“We have drawn up selection guidelines to eliminate any doubts as to what would happen in the event that someone else runs a qualifying time,” said Green in a statement.

APNG has clarified the process by which it will select its athletes for the Olympic Games through the issue of a selection policy to athletes and coaches.

“Based on what we have seen in terms of performances in the past couple of years, it is not inconceivable that more than one athlete will qualify so we have addressed this possibility through the policy,” Green said.

Wisil and Donna Koniel are training in Brisbane under similar Scholarship programs, with Wisil funded by the International Olympic Committee and Koniel the IAAF. 

Sharon Kwarula and Betty Burua are considered capable of running the qualifying times, but without funding support they face an uphill battle.

Three male runners also in the running to qualify for a place are Nelson Stone, Mowen Boino and Theo Piniau.

All selections are subject to endorsement by the Justification Committee of the PNG Olympic Committee.

PNGOC will meet with each of the Sports next week to discuss the nomination of athletes and officials.

The Rio Olympics is scheduled from August 5-21 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  

Author: 
Quintina Naime