Brewer backs Team PNG

By ISAAC LIRI
TRUST and respect are the two key ingredients that have nurtured the partnership between SP Brewery and PNG Olympic Committee over the years.
Those were the words of SP Brewery managing director Stan Joyce when announcing the continuation of partnership between the two stakeholders towards sports yesterday in Port Moresby.
The partnership will see SP Brewery supporting PNGOC for another three years with K409,825 to support Team PNG to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“This partnership started years ago and has endured,” Joyce said.
“Recognising elite athletes and helping to prepare these athletes for competition on the global stage is something I think of as an obligation, and being involved for many years is a privilege.
“This partnership started back in the late 1960s when PNGOC president Sir John Dawanincura and former SP Brewery managing director Bruce Flynn sat down and that partnership endured over the years because of their mutual trust and respect.
“I am very pleased that SP Brewery continues this partnership and we trust PNGOC and we have respect for each other.”
Joyce described the partnership as something that gave them to help the country’s best athletes.
“I think it gets better every year, whether its personal bests, new records or winning medals, more importantly what we recognise is the effort our elite athletes put into preparing themselves.
“Its’ not easy out there, many athletes suffer from a lack of funding and it happens all around the world but to be involved in helping our sports men and women achieve their best is something we will keep on doing.
“We know that representing PNG in any sport is special and a lot of athletes come from backgrounds with a lot of disadvantages but they go out there and do their best so they’re role models for their communities.”
PNGOC general secretary Auvita Rapilla shared the sentiments regarding their partnership that had grown over the years. “We’re happy that this partnership continues and we know that sports unites Papua New Guineans and we do that with the support of partners like SP Brewery,” Rapilla said.
“On behalf of our athletes I would like to thank SP Brewery for sticking with us and believing in us and our athletes.”