Men’s team to Masters bag silver

THE senior men’s touch team who went to the World Masters Cup in Sydney, Australia, performed extremely well to bag silver in their first participation at the Games last year.
They have also qualified for the 2011 World touch championships in Scotland.
The main event on the calendar for this year is the 2nd provincial championships in Kokopo, East New Britain province from July 11-13, where players and officials will be selected for the Scotland games.
Touch Football PNG president Joe Yore said in a statement that the TFPNG had nominated to send a men’s open team, women’s open, senior men’s and senior mixed teams, with two coaches and managers for each team.
Each team will have 14 players with a total contingent of 64 participants estimated at a cost of K500,000.
The two key qualities the players for 2011 World Cup must possess are agility and speed and players who can score or assist in scoring anywhere on the field.
For team management, the coaches must be level three and two holders certified with a minimum of five years coaching experience and managers must have proven record of effective and discipline management of players.
The management team candidates should be prepared to also secure sponsorship funding for their respective teams to meet full attire, airfares, accommodation and transportation costs, which is around K125,000 per team.
Players and officials would pay a K2,000 levy fee  and the teams would be confirmed of their travelling eligibility four months before departure.
Two top performing PNG referees will also be nominated to officiate during the 2011 World Cup championships by the TFPNG board and a June 12-15, technical programme is also being arranged for level 1-3 referees, coaches, administrators and selectors.
Only affiliates who have been members to TFPNG over the last two years will be eligible to participate at the championships in Kokopo.
However, current members who failed to affiliate last year but wish to participate in this year’s championships will be required to pay K1,000 for two year affiliation fees.