THE Public Servants Netball competition has cancelled its games this Saturday due to the untimely death of one of their administrators and players Ila Vala.
The competition’s match committee chairman Karo Gigimat said yesterday the PSNC had opted for this in respect and in honour of Vala’s long services to the competition.
Vala died on Monday in Port Moresby.
Gigimat said Vala had played a major role in the competition since its inception in 1990 and had gone a long way in assisting the competition as a coach, administrator and player.
She said that Vala had been instrumental in organising teams to the Masters Games in Australia - the last in Brisbane last year where she was the overall coach.
“Her services will be sorely missed by the women who participate in the competition. She was an active member of the match committee and she was a great listener and a doer,” Gigimat said.
“When I asked her to do something, whether it was just go and check on the teams, she would do it with kindness. We will miss her smiles but most importantly the style of her game within our competition,” she said
Vava was also instrumental in setting up the Telikom PNG netball club and took up the responsibility of making sure that Telikom PNG had a team every season. She decided to form her own Post PNG netball club which had two teams participating at the time of her passing.
She also assisted with the Esco netball club who play in the private netball competition and just recently was approached by the Veupunama netball club to coach them.
Vava was a former international representative and played in some world cup tournaments and the South Pacific Games.
Said Gigimat: “I convey our sincere condolences and sympathies to the immediate family of Ila Vala. We thank God for a life in Ila.”