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Sports |
New look Kumuls
PNG rugby league
World Cup campaign boosted by Telikom
In one of the most generous
sponsorships in the history of PNG sport, Telikom has thrown its
weight behind rugby league to the tune of K300,000 a year.
League insiders said the huge financial boost would hopefully
run for the next five years, with annual revues.
The nation’s telecommunications team will back the nation’s
international rugby league team, sending the Telikom PNG Kumuls
off with renewed confidence into next year’s World Cup of rugby
league, and other international clashes.
Kumuls coach Adrian Lam said the sponsorship was just the news
the PNG elite players needed as they prepared to take PNG’s name
into several international events.
He hinted that the extra financial strength could also lead
World Cup organizers to allocate a clash between PNG and another
rugby heavyweight to be played on PNG soil.
“You have to have lived here in PNG to know what rugby league
means to the men, women and children of this nation.
“Papua New Guinea is the only nation in the world where rugby
league is the most important game.
“It’s also worth remembering that in the last World Cup, the PNG
Kumuls were in the final eight, the first time a PNG rugby
league team has made it to the quarter finals of a world
competition.
“Telikom’s sponsorship can only help us to improve on that
position,” Lam said.
PNG is understood to be facing a contest in elite Group A of the
World Cup, up against Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain.
Only three of these teams will go through to the finals, so the
Telikom Kumuls will be battling it out at the very top level.
“It’s a challenge for the players, and for PNG, but imagine the
sense of national pride if our boys can match it in the top four
of the world,” Lam said.
Telikom CEO Peter Loko said it was a proud day for a nationally
owned company to be up there with the biggest sponsors in the
game.
“Rugby League is a national institution and so is Telikom.
“We both seek rewards and pride for the people of this nation,
and like rugby league, we at Telikom believe in the grass roots
and the little people in all the corners of this country.
“We both believe that success comes through teamwork, and just
like the Telikom Kumuls, we need supporters.
“We want success for the Kumuls, and we want success for the
nation, and like the Kumuls, we believe that sporting success,
as well as Telikom profits, belong to the people of PNG,” Peter
Loko said.
The Minister for Sport Dame Carol Kidu said Telikom’s
sponsorship was in the best interests of the nation and the
community.
“In the Government, we recognize that social responsibility by a
big corporation, in sponsoring sport, is not misplaced.
“Sports of all kinds are a force in creating peace and social
development, unity and nationhood.
“I congratulate our Telikom, and our Kumuls, for getting
together, and I wish them well in the years ahead, particularly
fighting for a place in the World Cup finals,” Dame Carol said.
 
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