Team PNG

Papua New Guinea athletes in boxing, swimming and squash commenced their competitions on Friday, 29 July in Day 1 of events. 

Boxer, John Ume triumphed over his opponent Elias Bonzo from Malawi at the NEC Hall. Ume won on points to progress on in the Men’s over 60kg-63.5kg (Light Welter) division.

In swimming, Georgia-Leigh Vele cruised through to finish first in Heat 2 of the Women's 50m Breaststroke with a time of 36.51 seconds at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.

Any hope Samoa had of pulling off a comeback was then extinguished as Captain Meagan Gunemba fired home a powerful strike from 25 yards to book PNG’s place in Saturday’s final against host nation Fiji, who beat Solomon Islands in the second semis match 3-1.

Gunemba’s two second-half goals, either side of Samoa having a penalty saved, secured the win after Charlie Yanding had given PNG a first-half lead.

While Samoa were intent on playing out from the back, PNG were happy to press them in midfield, continuously winning the ball as a consequence.

The Papua New Guinean boxer joins another Olympian and Commonwealth Games representative, Rellie Kaputin as the female flag bearer to lead Team PNG out at the opening ceremony on Thursday, July 28, in accordance to the Games protocol. 

The PNG Commonwealth Games Association President, Sir John Dawanincura made the announcement during the Welcome Kibung (meet-and-greet) hosted by the PNG community in Birmingham.

The semi final will be the replay of the 2019 Pacific Games gold medal play-off, where PNG won. 
There will be no love lost as the national women’s Coach, Nicola Demaine was the brain behind Samoa’s dream run for gold medal in 2019.

Coach Demaine said all teams have the purpose to attend this tournament to earn a qualification ticket to next stages and PNG is no different.

Her message to the team is to keep their heads, channel their nerves into excitement and play their own game.

Weightlifting Team Manager, Kila Mala has confirmed that weightlifting sensations, Dika Toua and Morea Baru are well into their third training session with four more sessions to go before their competitions start on July 30.

“So far all is going well for the two weightlifters in their training and recovery and we thank all for the support, particularly Head Physiotherapist, Matthew Natusch for all the post recovery work,” Mala said.

In their first team meeting at the Commonwealth Games Village in Birmingham on Sunday, July 24, Chef de Mission, Michael Henao told the athletes, their officials and the management team about the importance of how much bringing back good results from the Games can impact the lives of Papua New Guineans back home and abroad.

Jerome Bunge, David Joe Kaniku, Danny Ten and Nelly Leva were the quadrant who travelled to Ballarat, Australia, and further funding from the Australian High Commission in Papua New Guinea has allowed their legacy to continue as most members of the team return to the Continental Championships in Melbourne next week.

Originally, David Kaniku was planning to compete but is no longer able as there were not enough entries in the SH 6 classification. However, the team welcomes a new face onboard – Dorna Longbut.

Head Coach, Nicola Demaine said they are expecting Tonga to be well prepared and organized with quick transition to attack and defense and they are also physically strong.

“We are just taking one game at a time since the start of the tournament. We worked hard to pass the Group stages of the tournament with two wins and are now looking forward for the quarter final on the weekend.

As announced earlier this month, 33 athletes from the six sporting codes - Athletics, Boxing, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis and Weightlifting will all be in action during the 11 days of competition from Friday 29^th July up to the close of the Games on Monday 8^th August.

Upon his departure with the Lead Team on Tuesday 19^th July, Team PNG Chef de Mission, Michael Henao said 16 athletes and officials will leave Port Moresby tomorrow, while five from Table Tennis and Squash left a day early yesterday, 21^st July.

On the eve of travel to the Games, PNG Sports Foundation (PNGSF) yesterday presented a K626,980 cheque to the PNG Olympic Committee (PNGOC) earmarked for Team PNG’s participation at the Commonwealth Games. 

In a small but significant presentation held at the Aquatic Centre, PNGSF Chief Executive Officer, Albert Veratau said he was privileged on behalf of the Government to support Sport and especially the elite athletes representing Papua New Guinea in a world sporting event, the Commonwealth Games.