Baia cleared to participate in Mini Games

ATHLETICS Papua New Guinea has confirmed that long-distance runner Wilford Baia has sorted out his national identification (NID) and visa as he prepares for the Pacific Mini Games which begin on Friday.
The federation said Baia’s preparations had been affected due to the delay of his NID since April.
It said while the rest of the athletes had received their NIDs, Baia had to wait for three months until last Tuesday when he finally received his.
“We lodged Baia’s application for an NID in Kimbe in early April and it took them three months to finally process it,” long-distance running coach Philip Kamane told The National last week.
“For the other athletes, they had received theirs a few weeks later except for Baia, so we had to lodge it (documents) again.
“After the second lodgment, there was a long delay again and the NID people said they had backlog of applications that they had to sort out.
“So we had to wait.
“With time not on our side for the Games, we had to pay another ‘fast processing’ fee, so that they could give it priority.
“We are happy the process has been completed.
“Now with the NID, he should receive his visa.
“But as a coach, this issue has affected me and Baia.
“He had doubts about whether he would travel and that had affected his preparations.
“What he was going through also had an impact on me as a coach.
“But now that everything has been sorted out, it’s good to feel positive about the Games.”