The handover takeover of sporting region for the upcoming Regional Youth Games has finally taken place in Madang.
Delegations from the trio partner coalition, the PNG National Youth Development, the PNG Sports Foundation and the Department of Community Development and Religion were excited to host the handover ceremony of the Regional Youth Games Council Flag being handed over to the Mamose Regional Youth Games Committee Chairlady, Nane Tomala.
This biannual event was initially hosted in 2021 in the Southern Region in Milne Bay Province and was supposed to be held in the New Guinea Islands Region, unfortunately due to COVID19 restrictions it was cancelled and shifted to Mamose to host.
Chairman of the New Guinea Islands Regional Youth Games Committee, Conrad Golumu, whilst handing the Youth Games flag back to the Games Council, stated that whilst the games has been postponed for them, they are still determined to have their inaugural games as soon as time allows.
He stated that it was a very good concept which the government has initiated and is happy that Mamose is hosting its inaugural games.
National Youth Development Authority Director General, Joe Itaki, who received the flag from Golumu to hand over to Tomala, briefed those who witnessed the ceremony on the history of the games and why it was initiated.
He emphasized on the missing link that the key stakeholders identified for the policies and implementation of projects to roll out into the communities and why the games were initiated as the link to close the gap.
Itaki stated that many times, policies regarding youths, community development and sports did not work because there was no leeway for it to be implemented and assessed.
Now with the Regional Youth Games captures all these policies and sets a path for implementation, bringing changes into the Districts, Communities and local wards.
The games will set out to seek raw sports talents from all districts who will be selected to participate in the Regional Games to attract scouting opportunities for players into the various national sports teams in the country, which is consistent with the new sports policy direction of “Go Rural to Go Global”.
The Director General shared sentiments seen all over the country of talented sports men and women who are rarely uncovered because there is no platform for them to be discovered. With this concept in place, Itaki hopes that many youths can be identified to represent the country in the future.
On receiving the flag, Tomala thanked the NGI Regional Youth Games Chairman and Itaki for their trust and confidence in handing the games over to Mamose.
She stands on adamant that Mamose is ready and Madang will be ready to host the games from 3rd- 8th July 2023.