Taekwondo PNG

Oliver was one of the novices who took part in the 35kg cadet category at the Southern Region championships.

Oliver beat his opponents from Karanas team, Joseph Panau and Shaun Gaudiki of EG Karate club on points in the last day of the championships. He said they do a lot of training at home with his older siblings and that gave him a lot of confidence going into the tournament.

With the Pacific Games coming up at the back end of the year, Taekwondo PNG is not resting on its laurels after a brief hiatus.

In the past months a number of regional tournaments were successfully run in the New Guinea Islands and Momase regions, followed by the Southern region over the weekend at the Taurama Aquatic Centre.

A team from New Ireland, Karanas Taekwondo, also participated apart from host NCD and Central.

The PNGOC Board has endorsed the appointment of John Cholai as the Interim President of TPNG, with Justin Worinu as the Secretary, and Abel Pondek as the Treasurer.

TPNG will be under the guidance of the interim executive for a transitional period of six to 12 months to finalise a new constitution, regulations and policies in consultation with the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and Oceania Taekwondo Union (OTU).

A general meeting will be held at the end of this transition period to adopt a new constitution for the federation and also elect a new executive.

This is the third time the Taekwondo Federation has been suspended.

The decision was made by the board of the PNGOC on October 3 with the reason being that Taekwondo PNG had not adhered to their membership regulations through non-compliance with the PNGOC constitutional requirements, and ceasing to be legally constituted, without a functioning executive following the resignation of core executives including the President.