Lifters take out top awards

WEGHTLIFTERS Morea Baru and Thelma Toua won the male and female Athlete of the Year awards at the annual SP Sports Awards presentation on Saturday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port Moresby.
Baru and Toua, who are rising stars in their sport, proved themselves, winning regional titles (Oceania and Commonwealth) and earning high rankings.
Both awards were accepted on behalf of the athletes by family members as Baru and Toua are at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Noumea, New Caledonia.
Both thanked the awards organisers and their family and sponsors for their success via pre-recorded video messages.
The team-of-the-year award was scooped by the men’s national soccer team, the PNG Kapuls.
This followed their heroic performances during the Oceania Football Confederation’ Nations Cup in Port Moresby last year, where the team created history for PNG football by reaching the final;  they eventually lost to New Zealand in a penalty shootout but not before pushing the highly-fancied All Whites to a 0-0 scoreline in regulation time.
Receiving the award on behalf of the Kapuls was PNGFA senior vice-president John Wesley Gonjuan, Kapuls captain Michael Foster and national team coach Flemming Serritslev.
A delighted Gonjuan congratulated the players and coaching staff of the Kapuls.
“We have a team that is capable of climbing up the world rankings,” Gonjuan said.
“We hope that in the coming home-and-away series against the Solomon Islands we can get the results that we want,” Gonjuan said
“We dedicate this award to our past players, families and supporters,” Kapuls captain Michael Foster.
Winners: National performance-of-the-year: Lae Snax Tigers (rugby league), Community sports initiative: Cricket PNG (Girls empowerment through cricket), junior male athlete-of-the-year: Ryan Maskylene (swimming), junior female athlete-of-the-year: Violet Apisah (tennis), best-sportsperson-with-a-disability: Joyleen Jeffrey (para-athletics), sports-official-of-the-year: Frank Robby (weightlifting), sports-media-of-the-year: EM TV, people’s-choice award: Colin Geno (rugby league), sports-photograph-of-the-year – Mark Talia (Post Courier).