Thirteen on line for Kokop Nines

A TOTAL of 13 teams are expected to take part in the Agmark Pacific Nines touch football tournament in Kokopo, East New Britain province, in two weeks time.
Provincial tournament coordinator Henry Malawa said this week that this was the first time such tournament will be held in the province and that he is confident of great showing from the participating teams.
The teams taking part are BSP, SPS, Rabwell, Gazelle Realty, NGIP, Agmark Shipping, Spirit of Rabaul, Barlow Industries, BNBM Hardware, PNG Balsa and Newmark.
Malawa said that although the interest was high, only one club had so far paid its affiliation and registration fees.
He urged other clubs to pay their fees as soon as possible so that the organisers could fix up the draws and schedules for the match.
All the matches will be played at Kalabond Oval at Vunapope.
Malawa said it was the first time such tournaments would be held in the province and is looking for some good results from the teams and in particularly the players.
He said the main objective of the tournament was to get every company to the province to socialise through the spirit of the games.
Malawa also said the games will be viewed as a screening process for potential players to be selected for its SP Cup team, the Agmark Guria for next season.
He said he has full backing from Guria officials who would use the tournament to screen and select the potential players for trial with the Guria team.
“Who knows, some players may make it to the Guria’s selections and hopefully to the PNG Kumuls side,” he said.