The Special Olympics Papua New Guinea is planning to attend major international events in the future.
These include the Pacific Special Games and the Special Olympics Unified Football World Cup.
The Pacific Special Games will be held in 2017 in Fiji, run by the Special Olympics Asia Pacific.
SOPNG president Takale Tuna said selections for the Pacific Special Games will be made following the PNG Games in March next year.
SOPNG has been tasked by the 8th PNG Games organising committee to run the five aside unified football at the Kimbe Games.
The Unified Football World Cup is scheduled for 2018 and is modeled after the FIFA World Cup, the biggest single-event sporting competition in the world.
The Unified Football Cup demonstrates to the world the potential of Special Olympics athletes to compete in football at the highest level on teams with partners without intellectual disabilities.
It also increases public awareness of Special Olympics and the gifts and accomplishments of Special Olympics athletes, promotes athlete growth and creates attitude change toward persons with intellectual disabilities.
Tuna said the sky is the limit for SOPNG and they are hoping to build on this to further their exposure and make it a regular competition.
He thanked the Government for its funding support through the National Gaming and Control Board and the PNG Sports Foundation.
Special Olympics is a global organisation that serves athletes with intellectual disabilities, working with hundreds of thousands of volunteers and coaches each year.
Since the establishment of Special Olympics in 1968, the number of people with and without intellectual disabilities, who are involved with the organization, has been growing, but the unmet need to reach more people with intellectual disabilities is staggering, says SOPNG.
Picture by Kennedy Bani