| Sports |
Vanimo gears up for super surfing
By COLIN TAIMBARI
VANIMO is gearing up for the biggest sporting event since
Independence to hit this sleepy little border town along Papua New
Guinea’s northern most coastline.
More than 200 surfers will compete in six events at the PNG
National Surfing Titles on the reef breaks just off the white
sandy beaches of Vanimo (Lido) Village.
Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare will be the toast of the town as
he flies in on Thursday to official open the national titles which
will run on February 16-18.
Prime Minister media advisor Bertha Somare confirmed yesterday
that Sir Michael will fly to Vanimo on Thursday and fly back to
Wewak the same afternoon after the opening ceremony.
Surfing Association of PNG (SAPNG) president Andrew Abel said
everything was in place with more than 5,000 people from the town
area and the nearby villages expected to turn up for the four-day
event.
SAPNG affiliate clubs from Kavieng, Wewak, and Port Moresby will
have teams to take on host clubs Vanimo and Sunset on their on
surf.
“We are all excited because this is the first major surf sporting
event that we are hosting in PNG after a very long time,” Abel
said.
“The Prime Minister’s attendance will most definitely boost the
profile of PNG surfing not only as a sport but as a niche tourism
product for PNG.”
Mr Abel thanked major sponsors Tourism Promotion Authority, PNG
Tourism Industry Association, Vanimo Forest Products and QBE
Insurance (PNG) Ltd as well other corporate sponsors such as Air
Niugini and Telikom for supporting the titles.
Abel said as a member of the International Surfing Association,
SAPNG will adhere to ISA requirement that an international judge
oversee any national titles by bringing up Surfing Australia’s
head judge Glenn Elliot.
The titles will be used to pick an elite squad which will undergo
a week’s training in Vanimo in March under the watchful eye of
coach Sasha Stoker from Australia’s High Performance Training
Centre on the Gold Coast. The team also travels to the Gold Coast
in March for the Queensland Surfing Titles. A team of three
surfers will then be selected to represent PNG at the Pacific
Games in Samoa later in the year.
Abel said the titles will also be used as an opportunity to gauge
the views of members and relevant stakeholders on the final draft
of the World Bank sponsored SAPNG strategic development master
plan in order to drive the development of surfing as a sport in
parallel with surf tourism during the next 20 years.
 
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