Cash for medal winners

Four Games athletes to be K15,000 better off

TRACK athletes Toea Wisil and Poro Gahekave, and weightlifters Dika Toua and Morea Baru will each be K15,000 better off when the Government honours its commitment to reward last month’s Pacific Games medal winners.
The four won three gold each to help Papua New Guinea finish second behind New Caledonia in the medal tally. PNG bagged 38 gold, 57 silver and 35 bronze.
Sports Vice-Minister Wesley Raminai, pictured, said in Port Moresby last week that the Government would reward athletes/teams with K5,000 per gold, K2,500 per silver and K1,000 per bronze.
“We acknowledge that a large percentage of our elite sportsmen and women make monumental sacrifices, dedicating countless hours to training and competitions to represent us at the international level,” Raminai said in a statement.
“It would be a colossal task trying to reward everyone for the services they provide for our country.
“But it is not to say that our Government doesn’t appreciate and recognise the efforts of its people.
“Therefore, the Government will reward the medal winners of Team PNG with cash incentives.
“The details of how we can do this will be worked out in consultation with the sports federations to enable a smooth flow of this commitment from our Government.”
The first week at the Games was one to forget for PNG, with the country labouring in sixth spot despite being the second largest Oceania country behind Australia.
However, a herculean effort in the last five days of competition saw PNG leapfrog Australia, Fiji, Tahiti and Samoa to finish second.
“That experience, especially in terms of trailing behind our arch-rivals on the medal tally, is something we must now take measures to avoid,” Raminai said.
“With proper coaching and good sports psychology, athletes are being taught before competitions not to focus on the result but divert all their energies to the processes.
“The outcomes will come if the processes, including our preparation, are right.”
He challenged the PNG Olympic Committee, PNG Sports Foundation and sports federations to start preparing for the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara.