50 teams enter Goroka futsal

By CLIVE HAWIGEN
GOROKA futsal is on again this year and is promising to be bigger with 50 teams confirmed to take part during the five-a-side soccer tournament at the National Sports Institute.
The season started last Saturday with round one but the soccer fraternity in the province turned up in numbers.
Goroka futsal organiser and president Velda Mave said there were more teams participating this year than last year.
She said since the inception of the competition in 2007, this year saw the biggest number of teams registering.
Mave said the idea of having a futsal competition in Goroka was to revive the once active soccer competition in the highlands region.
She said they also wanted to develop soccer from the children’s level.
This year’s competition will see institutions such as the PNG Institute of Medical Research, the Melanesian Institute and the University of Goroka fielding teams.
They will go up against seasoned Goroka soccer clubs such as Guria, Blue Kumuls, Telikom and Kurakum who have been participating in the on-again-off-again Goroka soccer competition.
There are also U17, U12 and U10 competitions running.
 In total there are 24 senior men’s teams, seven senior women’s teams, five U17, seven U13s and six U10 teams competing.
Mave said more teams were interested but because of late requests and limited facilities she encouraged them to participate next year.
The games will run until the end of May with the finals to follow.
Results for the games over the weekend include : senior men’s UOG team four defeating Blue Kumuls team three  4-2, Faniufa Primary 2 defeating Melanesian Institute 1, Rapatona defeating Kurakum 2 – 5-4. In the U13’s game saw Kofi Ruts edging out Blue Kumuls 1-0.