Athletics meets set for Gulf

THREE scheduled events on the athletics programme for Gulf will be used to identify potential athletes for inclusion in junior development and for selection to the PNG Games in November this year.
Gulf Athletics Association president Lily Tua Pokana told The National that the events started with the Malalaua High School inter-house sports carnival on May 20.
This will be followed by the inter-school sports carnivalfrom June 2 and 3.
The final event will be the provincial championship during the Queen’s Birthday weekend from June 10 to 12. “We will select 18 male and female athletes to represent Gulf,” Pokana said.
“It’s the first time for the province to have an athletics association and we want to see how we go.”
The inter-school carnival and provincial championship will be held at the Malalaua High School Oval.
Unfortunately for the Gulf Athletics Association, the provincial championship will have a scheduling clash with the national championships to be held in Lae during the Queen’s Birthday weekend.  Selected students from the inter-school carnival will be included in Athletics PNG’s junior development programmes.
Pokana has conferred with APNG president Tony Green that they will continue with the provincial championship as scheduled and will not be sending a team to the national championships.
The team selected from the provincial championship will attend the Southern regional championships in September, with the core of the team to be retained for duties at the PNG Games.