Footballers begin with strong wins

DAY one of the Pacific Games saw wins for Team Papua New Guinea with the men’s and women’s football teams victorious in their opening matches in Apia, Samoa, yesterday.
In the men’s match, PNG defeated hosts Samoa 6-0.
Doubles went to Kapuls Kolu Kepo, along with ever reliable Raymond Gunemba, pictured, who is the skipper of Kumul Petroleum National Soocer League champions Toti City.
Kolu’s brother Atti Kepo and his NSL rival Nigel Dabinyaba both scored a goal each to bring PNG’s tally to six.
Bob Morris will be delighted with the result but the coach knows there’s tougher fixtures ahead.
In the women’s match against the Solomon Islands, Ramona Padio and co-captain Lucy Maino both bagged a double to help PNG earn a comfortable 5-2 victory.
The three Group B (men’s) matches chalked up a series of eye-catching results, none more so than the one-sided 13-0 win for the Solomon Islands against Tuvalu.
Then there was a much closer 2-1 win for Fiji against Tahiti, before New Caledonia beat American Samoa 5-0.
In Group A, (men’s) New Zealand Under-23s matched the benchmark set by the Solomon Islands earlier in the day as they also won 13-0 against Tonga.
There was another huge win as Fiji beat American Samoa 11-0, while Cook Islands defeated Tahiti 2-0.