PNG athletes who won medals at the recent Pacific Games in Solomon Islands have been recognized for their efforts by the government, making available one million kina to the PNG Sports Foundation.
As promised during the welcome reception to recognize the athletes, the cheque for K1 million was presented yesterday.
Team PNG recorded 105 medals in total at the Pacific Games.
Chief Executive Officer of PNG Sports Foundation, Albert Veratau said the money will be shared among the medalists, with gold medalists receiving K5000 each, silver K2500 and Bronze K1000.
He said the athletes that won multiple medals will have the prizes according to the number of medals won. If an athlete wins two gold medals at the Pacific Games, he/she gets K10,000 – K5,000 for each medal. The same applies to all medal categories.
Joining Veratau, the General Secretary of the PNG Olympic Committee, Auvita Rapilla said, coaches of those sports that won the medals at the Pacific Games are also in sight and would be recognized if there is a surplus in the budget. However, the incentive is primarily for the athletes that won medals.
Meanwhile, tennis star Abigail Tere-Apisa who won gold in the Women’s Single division expressed that if this incentive had been promised before the games, it would have been an added motivation for team PNG and would have produced different results.
PNG Olympic Committee and PNG Sports Foundation along with the athletes expressed their gratitude to PNG National Government for showing support and recognizing their achievement at the 17th Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands.