Let the games begin

THE stage is set for the official opening ceremony of the 4th PNG Games at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby this evening.
The programme will kick off with speeches presented by the Host Organising Committee chairman Jack Pidik, the PNG Games chairman Edris Kumbruwah and Sports Minister Philemon Embel.
Pidik is expected to welcome the participating teams while Kumbruwah will revisit the history of the games, from its humble beginnings to today.
According to the programme sighted by The National , the gates for the opening ceremony will open at 2pm for the public.
It will be followed by a march-pass by the participants representing different provinces at 5pm. 
National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and the Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane will then take their place in the grand stand before speeches begin at around 6:30pm.
Fireworks by Lamana Hotel general manager Yiannis Nicolaou and his team will proceed after the athletes, team management and technical officials take oath before Embel.
For some of the participants who are making their debut the games, it will be a memorable experience that will linger in their hearts for a long time.
A spirit of camaraderie and intense competition will shower over the respective sporting venues from Nov 18-29 as athletes vie for top honours in the 23 sports disciplines.
The games are dubbed as mini Grassroots Olympics by sporting administrators attracting scores of athletes, sportsmen and women for the opening ceremony which will be dominated by dynamic cheer-leading routine performance by musician Moses Tau and his group. 
PNG Games sports director John Paliau praised everyone in-volved in the opening and closing ceremony activities.
He paid tribute to musician Moses Tau and his group for the level of commitment they had displayed in the lead-up to the games.
“I want to applaud each of you for your commitment in training over the last few months.
“We all understand how difficult it must be to sacrifice your time which could have gone to studies and examinations. But, the road to success is paved with great sacrifice and I know you will do your part in making the campaign of your individual campuses successful,” he said. 
Paliau said the games should be looked at as a way of strengthening the level of integration across Papua New Guinea.
“When you look at the make-up of all the teams, you see people coming from all corners of PNG.
This shows that as a country using occasions like the PNG Games to showcase the level of talent and team work we can achieve, there is no reason we can’t achieve this every day,” he said.
Tickets for the opening and closing ceremony are now on sale.
They are going for K15 (adults), K10 (children for the outer stands while the grand stand, including a pass to all games venues is K200.
Tickets are on sale at all City Pharmacy Limited supermarkets, Brian Bell outlets, the Nambawan Trophy Haus and Stop and Shop supermarkets.