The biggest and richest socially organised pool competition in the Pacific - in terms of player participation and cash prize on offer - enters rounds 33, 34 and 35 at the Lamana Hotel on Saturday.
Currently, in its 11th year of competition, the PNG Media Pool Competition accommodates a wide range of teams from both the private and public sectors with 24 teams in total competing in this year’s competition.
The winner walks away with K10, 000 in cash and the Media Pool Cup while the top 12 teams share in a bounty of about K40, 000 in cash.
This year’s competition is currently in its second round with split round matches in play so 12 teams get to play three matches each on Saturday while the rest play two matches each.
On Saturday, the main match looms as the battle between Patrons and Cool Grafix at 1pm with the latter looking to extend its hold on 4th place while Patrons seems to have lost form with wayward team line-ups in the past 3 weekends.
In the earlier matches at 11am, Next of Kin (NOK) should easily dispose off strugglers Lakatoi; Nictosh should maintain its dominance over Keleone; Telinet and Education Media should fight out an even battle; Halmar to halt Crime Stoppers; Niusmakers should ride out the challenge by Patrons; and competition leaders Pebbles should easily account for City Hall.
In the 12pm matches, Auditor General should have a battle on their hands against hosts Lamana; Vemps Media to battle Freelancers; second placed Spin Doctors to face Department of Justice and Attorney General (DJAG); Poi Nangu and Cool Graffix to have an even battle; North East Mirror to account for Papuan Blacks; and Pacific MMI to overhaul Parliament.
At 1pm, Papuan Blacks should matchup to City Hall; Poi Nangu and DJAG to fight out a close one; Spin Doctors to account for Freelancers; Vemps and Lakatoi to test each others’ strengths; and Pebbles to finish strongly against Crime Stopper.
The final matches at 2pm, should see Spin Doctors maintain their winning run against a struggling Lakatoi side; Pebbles to blitz Education Media; NOK to account for Vemps Media; North East Mirror and Niusmakers to test each other out; City Hall to wipe out Parliament; and Nictosh and Auditor General to push each other for superiority.
Tournament director Ephraim Kara has urged all teams to turn up on time so competition can start and finish as per schedule.
“The PNG Media Pool Competition has been running very well this year and we hope to conclude with the finals in November,” he said.