Athletics PNG wants HPS to explain selection criteria

Athletics PNG wants the director of High Performance Sport PNG to clearly explain to sports the selection criteria when calling for nominations for its programmes.
This call results from a case where a female candidate nominated by Athletics PNG and accepted for this week’s Athlete Leadership Summit at the Gold Coast was later dropped from the programme.
“The athlete in question was not even informed that she had been dropped and we consider this very poor,” APNG president Tony Green said.
“We fully respect the right of HPS to select athletes for its programmes, but their mandate is to work with national sporting bodies. National federations must be involved in the selection process.
“National federations are in a better position to recommend which of their athletes are more likely to have a future in the sport, so our recommendations should be respected.
“However, we need more information about the purpose and content of such programmes than was given in this case for us to recommend the right candidates.
“We requested an explanation three weeks ago but to date have not received any response with only vague reference to certain criteria that were not communicated to applicants or national federations at the time nominations were being sought.
“We want some assurance that the selection criteria are being consistently applied.
“What we seem to have here is a situation where responsibility for this programme was delegated to one of the managers of the HPS division and his decision to accept this candidate was later overruled by a higher authority.
“This decision appears to be at odds with the latest press statement from HP which stresses the importance of assisting our retiring athletes to find a career path.”