The 2024 Edition of Niu Power Sports Tok Rugby Sevens Tournament was launched on Tuesday March 26 ahead of the event, slated for the Easter Weekend from the 29th to the 31st of March 2024.
Founder of the Sports Tok Rugby Sevens Benson Upas, Tournament Coordinator Joe Kautu and sponsor Niu Power Limited are excited to bring the 2024 edition of the Sports Tok Rugby Sevens Tournament to the participating clubs and rugby fans.
Tournament Coordinator Joe Kautu said the tournament will bring together 32 teams in the open men's division and 12 teams each in the women and junior divisions. Four teams will be drawn into each pool competing for a total of K85,000.
After the event, the Cup winner in the open men’s division walks away with K20 000 cash, and the Women K15 000. The winner in junior division, as usual, won’t be given any cash prizes.
Speaking about the purpose of this event, Founder of the Sports Tok Rugby Sevens Benson Upas said this rugby tournament will allow young Papua New Guinean rugby players to showcase their skills and talents and elevate the standard of Rugby in the country.
“It (Niu Power Sport Tok Sevens) will really elevate our performance, give more experience to our players, and exposure. Most of the times, it’s the rules that go against us because we don’t have that much exposure locally.” said Upas.
Upas further explained the reason why he came up with this initiative and started running the rugby sevens Tournament.
“Its pure passion and love for the sport. It’s a family oriented sport. We took the initiative because we saw that there was not much 7s tournament - we started to think along that line, Joe Kautu came up with the idea, so it’s all passion and love for the sport.”
CEO of Niu Power Michael Uiari expressed gratitude for partnering with Sport Tok Magazine for the third consecutive year in hosting the event.
The Niu Power Sports to Rugby Sevens Tournament will be played at two separate venues starting Good Friday. The first two days will be at Bava Park and the finals at the Sir John Guise Stadium on the third day.
Rugby fans in the city are encouraged to come along and be part of the event.