2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

Speaking at the official welcome for Team PNG last night at the Gold Club, Wardley thanked the athletes and officials for giving it their best over the two weeks on the world stage.

She said PNG, like other competing nations and territories, had their fair share of achievements and disappointments.

“We had some fantastic wins, some great personal achievements with national records, seasonal bests and personal bests.

“We also suffered our share of disappointments and losses.

Sponsors, friends and family all gathered at the airport as early as 12pm to receive them.

There was dancing, singing and plenty of emotion shown by the people of Hanuabada, who turned up in truckloads.

There was an immense feeling of pride when Kari, flanked by silver medallists Dika Toua and Morea Baru, walked out of the Paradise lounge waving and holding their medals up high.

“Firstly, I want to thank God for giving me another gold medal for PNG and for my family,” said Kari.

The contingent will come in on three different flights:

-           QF057 - 1230pm arrival (Boxing, Athletics, Lawn Bowls, Table Tennis - 27 in total)

-           VA39 - 1pm arrival (Rugby 7s & Squash - 15 in total)

-           PX004 - 2pm arrival (GMT, Sir J, Auvita, Weightlifting, Swimming, Shooting - 23).

The official welcome for Team PNG will be held tonight at The Gold Club, Arena, Lamana Hotel and will start at 6:30pm.

As the ceremony wrapped up, Johanna Griggs and Basil Zempilas were quick to defend Seven's coverage amid criticism they did not show vision of the athletes entering the stadium.

Commonwealth Games chairman Peter Beattie has now admitted organisers 'stuffed up'.

Slotted into Pool A, the Pukpuks took on Scotland in their opening match yesterday going down 27-0.

The Pukpuks were smoked by giants South Africa receiving a 52-0 whipping, but came out on top in their last match of the day beating Malaysia 31-5 last night.

Tries went to Emmanuel Guise, William Tirang, Wesley Vali and a double to Gairo Kapana.

The medal playoffs for rugby sevens will start at 1:55pm this afternoon at Robina Stadium.

Pool A consists of Scotland, PNG, South Africa and Malaysia.

Women’s Bronze Medal Match: Canada vs England (1:55pm)

Hawkins had looked set for a comfortable victory when he opened a lead of more than two minutes over Australia's Michael Shelley on the Gold Coast.

But in the closing kilometres Hawkins began to be affected by the heat, with the temperature having reached 28 degrees by the late stages of the race.

He started swaying towards the roadside curve and even crashed into the spectator area next to the course just ahead of the Sundale Bridge in Southport.

Poor defence gave the Scots their first points through Jamie Farndale who put on some good footwork out wide to run fifty metres to score.

Scotland continued to control possession and were in for their second try after Darcy Graham showed he had too much pace on the wing.

A try to George Horne extended Scotland’s lead to 17-0 going into the sheds.

The Pukpuks couldn’t control the ball and it only cost them more points with Scotland, running in two more tries in the second half with Farndale grabbing his second and one from a James Fleming intercept try.

A commanding win in the women's 800-metre final saw the South African double up on her earlier 1,500m victory to clinch the 800-1500 double she just missed out on at last year's world championships.

Both golds in Carrara came in Commonwealth Games record time.

But where the 1,500m win came amid talk of indifference from other athletes which has long surrounded her due to her hyperandrogenism (meaning she has an excess of male sex hormones in her body, including testosterone) the 800m victory came in seemingly friendlier conditions.

He believes the team can make a top eight finish this weekend and is confident they can put a lot of pressure on their opponents.

Guise said the team had a “flat start” in Hong Kong due to a bout of malaria among the players prior to their game but they have recovered well and are looking forward to the matches this weekend.

He was happy with the practice run they had this afternoon and happily reported that none of the players are carrying any injuries.

“The boys are quite excited to be here with the rest of Team PNG so that’s good to see,” Guise said.

Hughes was disqualified on the grounds he impeded Trinidad and Tobago's Richards in Thursday night's final at Carrara Stadium.

England lodged an appeal in the aftermath but it was unsuccessful and the disqualification stood.

Hughes had been leading Richards, who was in the lane to his left, by about a metre halfway down the home straight.

Richards was drawing level with Hughes less than 20 metres from the finish line when he was struck by the Englishman's straying left arm.