Club secure major sponsor, set for Ipatas Cup test

IPATAS Cup rugby league club Maip Muli Rangers have secured a major sponsor for this year’s competition in Enga.Local company JLW Contractors announced their sponsorship of the Enga club last weekend in front of a crowd of 18,000 people.
The sponsorship came in the form of a new set of uniforms valued at K15,000 which were presented to the club by Ipatas Cup chief executive officer Timothy Lepa on behalf of JLW Contractors, and minor sponsor Global Media and Total Events Company.
“This is not the first time for the two companies to support the team to take part in the competition.
“They had continued to assist the team in the last several years since the team had shown their interest to take part in the competition,” Lepa said.
He was accompanied by seven councillors, including Maip Muli LLG president and former Enga deputy governor Peter Iki.PNG Kumuls and Enga Mioks skipper David Loko was also present with several Mioks players to model
the uniforms.
Loko also officially kicked off the selection trials at the Maip Muli station, where the Rangers players would be picked. Teams from Muli East and West will vie for spots in the final Rangers team in a three-game series.
West won the first match the previous weekend and East levelled last weekend to set up the decider this weekend. The winner will take away the Global Media Cup with K3000 prize money.
Meanwhile, the Southern leg of the Ipatas Cup will kick off on Feb 8-10 at the Lloyd Robson Oval in Boroko, NCD.
Southern tournament director Stanley Hondina said five clubs from the Port Moresby Rugby League competition, including reigning premiers Dobo Warriors, have so far registered for the competition.
 “We have only three weeks remaining and respective team managements were advised to speed up their player lists, medical clearance and forward to the Southern committee by next week Monday,” he said.