PNG mourns death of hockey administrator

PAPUA New Guinea sports fraternity has lost yet another ardent sports personality.
She is Kwapena Pahun Tapo (right), who passed away on Good Friday, following a sudden stroke several hours before at her village in Hula where she had travelled to bury an uncle.
Tapo had been involved in the management of hockey within the Port Moresby Hockey Association and PNG Hockey Federation.
She had been involved in the sport since the late 1970s as a player until her death last Friday.
Tapo had been the  administrator of the University United Hockey club in the National Capital District competition over the years, training and grooming young and upcoming players within the club and the Port Moresby Hockey Association.
Last year, she was one of the organisers of the PNG University Games at the Waigani campus.
She had been UPNG’s sports and recreation office executive officer since 2006, and had represented hockey in many national tournaments and international meets, most recently, the World Masters Games in Sydney that saw the women’s masters (Golden Eagles) hockey team winning a bronze medal last October.
She is one of UPNG’s longest serving employees, having started work with the institution as a stenographer in 1977.
Tapo worked her way up the ladder to be a secretary to the Registrar of the University and, more recently, she had been involved with the student services as executive officer for the UPNG Sports and Recreation Office.
Tapo, aged 52, is survived by her two sons Sapau and Pulsan and daughter Tiani and her husband, James Tapo from Manus, where she will be laid to rest at Yiringo.
Family and friends will farewell Tapo at a funeral service at 2 o’clock this afternoon at the University of PNG chapel.
The family is expected to leave tomorrow for Manus province where she will be laid to rest.