Pepes thrashed

PAPUA New Guinea  started off their campaign on the opening day yesterday at the XlX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, on a wrong footing.
Pepes, who were making their debut at the event, got a baptism of fire from their more superior opponents, New Zealand.
They were no match to the much taller New Zealand Black Ferns,  going down 21-102. 
PNG Pepes had no answer to the Black Ferns’ onslaught.
New Zealand raced  to a 33-6 in the first quarter and maintained their lead, holding PNG in the second to a 24-6.
In the third quarter, PNG managed only four goals to Black Ferns 29 and in the final quarter, New Zealand piled on 16 points to take their tally to 102 while PNG managed five for a total of 21 points.
New Zealand’s top goal shooter Irene Van Dyk and Grace Ramusen had 94% success rate.
Van Dyk potted 33 goals from 35 attempts while Ramsen potted 15 out of 16 attempts to help set their foundation for comfortable win.
PNG shooters performed below par with only 50% rate while New Zealand shooters had an average of 90% strike rate at shooting.
PNG goal shooters Lua Rikis topped scored for PNG with 12 points from 23 attempts while Maleta Roberts only pot seven from 12 attempts and  Tiata Baldwin netted two from four attempts.
PNG Pepes need to improve in the mid-court department if they want to remain competitive in their remaining games.
PNG will play South Africa tomorrow, Barbados on Thursday, Cook Islands on Saturday. They will meet England in their last pool game on Sunday.
In squash, Michael Rucklinger (men) and Barbara Stubbings (women) lost their opening single matches to their England opponents.