S-League more competitive, says Upaiga

Papua New Guinea international Koriak Upaiga is relishing the challenge of playing in the Telekom S-League in the Solomon Islands.
The dread-locked defender has had another influential season for defending champions Marist FC.
With the politics of football having an undesirable effect on the beautiful game in Papua New Guinea and the country’s National Soccer League (NSL), the experienced Upaiga believes he and his countrymen have made the right move to play in the more competitive Telekom S-League.
“I think the Telekom S-League is competitive compared to our league back home,” he said.
“There’s a lot of football politics going on in PNG and suddenly the NSL in PNG has dropped in terms of its standard.
“A good number of us PNG boys have moved here (to the Solomon Islands) this season and we have benefitted as players but at the same time I believe we have also helped in improving the standard of the S-League so I’m happy to have helped in this way.”
Upaiga’s performance at right back this season has been second to none and the player in recent training sessions has also been polishing up on his finishing abilities inside the opposition box.
He added that valuable aspect to his game, scoring with two fine headers in Marist FC’s last two games against Solomon Warriors and Real Kakamora, both from dead ball situations.
– Solomon Star