Kemper do Kalo proud

 A VILLAGE canoeing club from the Central has won two gold, two silver and two bronze medals in their first international event held last weekend in Cairns, Australia.

Kemper Leva Club (KLC) from Kalo village, Rigo, brought home the medals in Round 5 of the Full Zone Far North Queensland Regatta in Cairns which ran from July 27-28.

Team official, Nellie Tetaga said: “Big congratulations to the Kemper Club for these outstanding results – bringing home six medals at their first international race.”

The top medals came from the Open Women’s 500m sprint and Open Mixed 500m sprint.

The silver medals came from Open Women’s 9km marathon and Open Men 24km marathon while the bronze medals came from the Open Women’s 24km marathon and Open Men’s 500m sprint.

Tetaga also thanked Pole Kassman and her family for hosting the club members in Port Moresby for four months so that they could train and attend regattas in the city.

All seven members of KLC women’s team who attended the Cairns regatta will be travelling as members of the national Va’a (canoeing) team to the Pacific Mini Games in Wallis & Futuna in September.

“On behalf of the PNG Canoeing Association, I would like to congratulate the Kemper Club and their management for doing us proud,” PNG Canoeing Association president, Willard Stephen, said.

“This only shows that our efforts with the help of our government for taking the sport to the rest of the PNG paddling community last year was worth it.”

The Pacific Game sport Va’a has taken off over the past five years with clubs established in Port Moresby, Central and Milne Bay.