Team PNG

Sponsors, friends and family all gathered at the airport as early as 12pm to receive them.

There was dancing, singing and plenty of emotion shown by the people of Hanuabada, who turned up in truckloads.

There was an immense feeling of pride when Kari, flanked by silver medallists Dika Toua and Morea Baru, walked out of the Paradise lounge waving and holding their medals up high.

“Firstly, I want to thank God for giving me another gold medal for PNG and for my family,” said Kari.

The contingent will come in on three different flights:

-           QF057 - 1230pm arrival (Boxing, Athletics, Lawn Bowls, Table Tennis - 27 in total)

-           VA39 - 1pm arrival (Rugby 7s & Squash - 15 in total)

-           PX004 - 2pm arrival (GMT, Sir J, Auvita, Weightlifting, Swimming, Shooting - 23).

The official welcome for Team PNG will be held tonight at The Gold Club, Arena, Lamana Hotel and will start at 6:30pm.

He believes the team can make a top eight finish this weekend and is confident they can put a lot of pressure on their opponents.

Guise said the team had a “flat start” in Hong Kong due to a bout of malaria among the players prior to their game but they have recovered well and are looking forward to the matches this weekend.

He was happy with the practice run they had this afternoon and happily reported that none of the players are carrying any injuries.

“The boys are quite excited to be here with the rest of Team PNG so that’s good to see,” Guise said.

De’bono Paraka made history this morning to qualify for the finals tomorrow night in the men’s discus throw competition.

He finished fifth with a throw of 49.02 metres in Group A of the qualifying events this morning at the Carrara stadium.

Paraka is aiming for a National record throw in the finals.

In triple jump event earlier in the morning, Peniel Richard leaped 15.23m which was 0.32cm short of his personal best while in the women’s long jump on Wednesday night, Rellie Kaputin marked the sand at 6.81m in a long and chilly night of competition.

Ottobock serviced Nime’s existing prosthetic to assist her with the Opening Ceremony and determined that the limb was severely damaged and really needed replacing.

They constructed the new limb and Nime went for a final fitting today.

Nime was ecstatic to receive the new prosthetic leg  “I’m so happy; it’s very light and easy to walk in it”.

The team from Ottobock will monitor Nime throughout the rest of the Games to ensure the limb fits perfectly before she leaves for home.

Lawn Bowls athletes are a picture of calm and composure, but the competition has been one of the most hotly contested and excitingly unpredictable events at the Games. Being the busiest of all the sports on the programme, Lawn Bowls has been in competition from Day 1 of the Games and Team PNG has been on the greens in fierce competition with the other 23 countries in each of the events.

The athletes and officials, which included women’s weightlifting silver medallist, Dika Toua, and her teammates, members of the athletics, lawn bowls and swimming teams made the journey North armed with PNG flags and banners and a lot of noise.

They met with Hunters coach, Michael Marum, and the players after the match before heading back to the Gold Coast.

It began slowly but ended with a silver medal win courtesy of Morea Baru’s outstanding performance in the men’s 62kg weightlifting competition.

Another highlight of the day was the impressive win by boxer, Thadius Katua, in the preliminary rounds of the men’s 60kg division. Katua outscored his Nigerian opponent with classy footwork and super-fast punches which saw him through to the next round.

More than 6,600 athletes and officials from 70 Commonwealth nations and territories will take part in 11 days of competition from 4^th to 15^th of April 2018.

Team PNG, consisting of 56 athletes and 32 officials, including the General Management Team, has arrived in Gold Coast and are gearing up for the event.

They will participate in 10 of the 23 sports offered during the Games.

The 10 sports are; Athletics (para-athletics), boxing, lawn bowls, rugby 7s, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis (para-table tennis), triathlon and weightlifting.

Under this support, the Pacific’s leading insurer will be taking care of the team’s medical and travel insurance giving them peace of mind as they focus on their roles at the Games.

“We want the team to be focused and not worry about other issues so we are pleased to provide this support and be part of the Team and the Games,” said chief insurance officer David Lee.

The cover is part of Capital Insurance Group’s sponsorship support for Team PNG which protects the team members and their cargo for the duration of the Games period.