Pacific Games

​Baton beats path through colourful Kairuku

Flying in from Tapini via helicopter this morning, the Baton continued from Bereina station being welcomed by hundreds of excited students and traditional dancers swaying in their grass skirts to the beat of their kundu drums.

There, CEO of Kairuku, Victor Tsinabi officially welcomed the team.

He said it was an honour for the people of Kairuku to be a part of history.

From there, the Baton was passed on to the runners to take it out of the station and onto the trans highway.

​Games Relay begins journey in Central Province

The Relay will spend the next few days touring the coastal and inland villages of Central.

Central is the last province the baton will visit before it makes its way into the nation’s capital on 29 June.

The baton flew by chopper over Papa/Lealea villages, LNG site and Tapini in the Goilala District before landing at Bereina station in Kairuku.

 It will then relay back to Veimauri before retiring to Port Moresby.

PNG community in Cairns, Australia joins Games Relay

 

The Oil Search Games Relay made a special visit to Cairns on the weekend where the community hosted an informal picnic on the Esplanade of Cairns City.

Team PNG athletes who are training in Cairns also attended the event.

PNG Consul Rava Chapman thanked the team for remembering the large community living and working in North Queensland and wished Team PNG every success in the upcoming games.

10 days to go before Pacific Games begin

The Games will be held from July 4 to 18 and involves 24 countries participating in 28 sports.

Preparations are speeding up as host city Port Moresby looks forward to welcome more than 4,000 athletes, officials and tourists.

New Pacific Games banners and the flags of the 24 countries have been raised outside the Sir John Guise Stadium while new banners are placed at roundabouts throughout the city.

The Games venues are being tested and the Games Organising Committee is undergoing the process of moving in temporary infrastructure.

Strongest ever weightlifting field for Pacific Games

The Pacific Games event in Port Moresby is being held in conjunction with the Oceania Weightlifting Championships for the first time.
 
Among the lifters on show will be Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallists Dika Toua and Steven Kari from Papua New Guinea, and David Katoatau from Kiribati.
 
Samoa, Fiji and Nauru will also have Commonwealth medallists on show, as well as New Zealand and Australia, who are competing in the Pacific Games for the first time.
 

Samoa Rugby appoint interim Sevens Coaches, Selection panel to consider 29 applications

Current trainers Fataalii Milovale Moke and Fa’aofo Junior Leota have been appointed Interim Coach and Interim Assistant Coach/Team Manager respectively, to take the Sevens team to the Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea in early July.
 
SRU interim Chief Executive Faleomavaega Vincent Fepuleai said the interim appointments allowed the Union to take the time it needed to find the right candidates for the permanent positions, over the next two weeks.
 

Philippa ready to face Pacific lifting cousins

For the first time in history, the Cook Islands will have two female weightlifters to lift the national flag on the lifting platform.
 
Luisa Peters, an established member of the Oceania Weightlifting Institute training under legendary coach Paul Coffa, is well known for her impressive lifting skills in the region who will soon learn about another talented Cook Islands lifter in Phillippa Woonton.
 
Philippa, daughter of former Cook Islands Prime Minister Dr Robert Woonton, says making the Team Cook Islands weightlifting team has made her year.
 

Women’s cricket squads announced for the 2015 Pacific Games

The teams competing in the tournament are Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, New Caledonia and Samoa. This is the first time that women’s cricket will be staged alongside men’s cricket at the Pacific Games.
 

Beach Volleyball technical officials set for Games

Referees, line scorers, ball retrievers and sand levelers successfully completed a week training to up skill themselves.

The training provided an overview of the rules of the Game, protocols, medical, disputes, misconducts, philosophy of beach volleyball and working together in understanding how the Game is played.

Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) referees technical delegate Richard Casutt said they have a lot of experience which made it easy for them to understand the content of the training.

​Team PNG theme chants released

The chants will be released to local radio stations and wider media outlets.

People have been encouraged to get behind the chants and support Team PNG achieves its ultimate success.

They were also encouraged to learn the chants and join in the singing as they are cheering during the Games.

Chef de Mission of Team PNG, Richard Kassman was pleased to announce the officially sanctioned Team PNG chants.