Papua New Guinean’s Commonwealth gold medalist and weightlifting hero Steven Kari will not be part of the 2016 Olympic Games athletes to Rio later this year.
This was announced by Papua New Guinea’s Chef de Mission Emma Waiwai when speaking to ABC Radio Australia recently.
Waiwai said, this may be possible because of two reasons, he may be injured or facing certain qualifying needs. It could be one of those two reasons.
On the other end, Papua New Guineas weightlifting queen and Commonwealth gold medalist Dika Toua's place in the team isn't guaranteed also as she has a long way to work her way back to her standard.
However, Wawai says that Papua New Guinea is looking at targeting seven sports in the Olympic Games in Rio this year and considering a male and female in the different sports it wouldn’t be more than fourteen athletes to participate.
“But we are confident with our athletes and believe they will set the bench mark to make an impact in their own turns,”Waiwai said.