PNG Games end in style

By LESLIE OMARO
GAMES chairman and former parliamentarian Sir Rabbie Namaliu has called on the national government to plan for proper sporting facilities for provinces that will host future PNG Games.
He said this during the closing ceremony of the 5th PNG Games in Kokopo on Friday following the two-week sporting spectacle, which was initially marred by financial and organisational problems.
Despite the setbacks, Sir Rabbie told the huge crowd at the Kokopo Sports Ground that East New Britain were proud to have hosted the games.  
“I hope you have all enjoyed your participation and stay in the province notwithstanding the rain, power blackouts and some teething problems that we had to deal with in the initial stages of the games,” Sir Rabbie said. 
He added that sporting facilities built for the games would enable provinces to pursue sports development and growth.
“It is only fair for only a few provinces to have good sporting facilities and not others and it certainly will not create a level playing field and it is not the best and most effective way of identifying talents in the provinces,” Sir Rabbie said.
He also suggested the following:
l Games should not be held in an election year as resources would be diverted from adequate preparations of provincial teams
l Games should be fixed for the middle of the year during the school break to minimise disruption to schools
l Bidding process should allow the host province more than two years to prepare for the Games.
Sir Rabbie thanked all provincial teams that took part in the games as well as the officials, volunteers, institutions and communities that hosted teams.
He also commended ENB Governor Ereman ToBaining for supporting the games with K500,000.