Athletics team prove worth at Thailand Open

ATHLETICS PNG’s Asia tour to Tokyo and Bangkok ended on a high on Tuesday afternoon with a top performance from the men’s 4 x 400m relay team of Emmanuel Wanga, Linus Kuravi, Daniel Baul and Shadrick Tansi.
The quartet finished fifth in a high quality race at the Thailand Open of 3 minutes 13.95 seconds.
This is only 12/100th of second outside the time of 3:13.86 achieved by Mowen Boino, Kaminiel Matlaun, Theo Piniau and Nelson Stone in the in the incredible atmosphere of the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby on July 16, 2015 when the whole country were roaring them home to a Pacific Games gold.
“The men’s 400m has always been PNG’s strongest event and when one considers that this was achieved without athletes like Theo Piniau, Ephraim Lerkin and Benjamin Aliel it shows the depth that we have in this event,” Athletics PNG president Tony Green said.
“The national record of 3min 09.55 set at the 1991 Pacific Games in Port Moresby by Takale Tuna Baobo Nuendorf, Kaminiel Selot and Subul Babo has stood the test of time, but is now clearly under threat,” he said.
Top performances were also recorded in Bangkok by Martin Orovo with huge personal best times in the 800m (1min 52.82 secs) and the 1500m (4min02.00 secs); by Simbai Kaspar (3000m steeplechase 9min 48.24 secs) and by Emmanuel Wanga with a 47.85 secs clocking in the 400m heats.
The youngsters who ran the 4 x 100m relay together for the first time also acquitted themselves well with a time of 41.79 secs.
Linus Kuravi started the race and handed to Manoka John with Thoa Ora running the third leg and Michael Penny bringing home the baton.
PNG won three gold medals at the Thailand Open Championships: Donna Koniel (women’s 400m hurdles), Leonie Beu (women’s 400m) and Simbai Kaspar (men’s steeplechase).