sports

Governor Parkop said it was a said situation in the country where popular sporting codes administrations had been politicised affecting the potential of PNG athletes.

Governor Parkop said in parliament today that “sports Politics’ at the administrative level severely impacted PNG’s competiveness in sports affecting young sports men and women.

He pointed out the codes Soccer and Rugby Union which in the recent past made headlines over its administrations.

Governor General Sir Bob Dadae acknowledged sport as a unifying factor in the nation while at the same time, highlighting the passion and positive contribution that sport makes to the health of the nation.

The GG also acknowledged the role of the private sector in supporting sporting activities through funding and sponsorship necessary to make these events a reality.

The staging of sporting events in the world requires a good network of business people and individuals that can rely on each other for skills and experience.

Three finalists for each of the 11 categories were selected from a pool of nominations that came from all over the country.

Secretary General of the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee, Auvita Rapilla, who made the announcement, congratulated the finalists saying it is a great achievement in itself.

“While only one of you will receive the award for your respective categories, all of you are champions in your own right.

“Being nominated and furthermore, being a finalist in the SP Sports Awards is a great achievement in itself,” she said.

Ideally, the mention of Tahina Booth will always have avid local sport followers taken back to the 2015 Pacific Games when she fell short of representing the country in powerlifting.

She had not received her dual citizenship in time.

That would have been the end of it many would have thought.

Instead the part Iokea lass took a seed out from the experience and out from it sprouted the Grass Skirt Project, a Not for Profit charity. (www.grassskirtproject.org)

According to President, John Kapi Natto the competition is more of a pre-season to gather interest from teams for the upcoming National Premier League competition.

To be spearheaded ahead by the Northern and Southern Conference, the tournament will run from March 17-18.

The Northern Conference will host their matches in Lae, while matches for the Southern Conference will be played in Port Moresby.

Kapi Natto said this is the first step forward for the newly established federation to run its competition for the 12 soccer affiliates in the country.

This question was directed to the youth of Woitape LLG in Goilala District by the local member William Samb.

Locals have organised a rugby tournament that has seen 16 teams for both male and female from surrounding villages will participate.

The teams will have knock-outs this week leading up to semi-finals on Saturday.

Samb, who was on ground the previous weekend, returned over the weekend with K48,000 to sponsor the competition.

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Rugby league is now being introduced widely to schools throughout the region by NRL Australia in PNG under the League Bilong Laif (LBL) program.

The program works with schools in the four regions of PNG using rugby league as a tool to support education outcomes.

Development officer Kenneth Kenevi says his team of three staff has done well to bring back the interest of the sport after the Bougainville Crises.

Since the program’s inception at Bougainville in March 2015, they have had about 30 schools involved.

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