Olympic day gives students new interests

NATIONAL karate representative Nigel Bana was pleased with the number of students showing interest in the martial art during the recent Olympic day celebration.
Bana said the sport was hoping to have a team compete at the 2020 Olympic Games.
“PNG will send its first karate team in 2020 Olympic Games which is exciting, and I encourage more young people to join,” Bana said.
“Basically what we did is going through some basic steps of karate, with defence, steps and sparring.
“It was good to see students showing interest by coming back and asking if they could join a karate club,” Bana said.
Karate instructor Carl Mari was did demonstrations for the eight schools that showed up for the day.
PNG Olympic Committee secretary-general Auvita Rapilla said the event was aimed at getting students involved and valuing sports by learning about them and their benefits.
“It’s been fantastic having a good number of schools showing up and participating to celebrate the birth of the modern Olympic Games and learn about the Olympic pillars,” Rapilla said.
The celebration continued the next day with a relay-of-unity event at Sir John Guise Stadium, which saw students and families take part.