PNG Palais look to qualify for Olympics

 THE Papua New Guinea women’s national rugby sevens team, the City Pharmacy Palais have begun preparations for the Oceania Sevens Championships in October.

Recently coming out of their first camp which was held at the Correctional Service College at Bomana, the 24-member squad trained doing defence unit drills, conducted their fitness tests and finished off last Friday with trials.

As part of Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union’s aim at getting the women’s 7s to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, these lead-up tournaments are a huge bonus for the team’s preparations.

The first camp was for coaches John Larry and Cecil Davani and PNGRFU to see where the team’s level of performance was.

Following the Oceania 7s championships will be the Asia Pacific 7s tournament which is slated for October as well in Shanghai, China.

This first camp also saw new inclusions of the two Madang-based players Maureen Karo and Melissa Sindiwan and China-based Meiling Choong.

During the three-day camp, PNGRFU Operations Manager and qualified International Rugby Board (IRB) Referee Educator Sailosi Druma ran a session with the team going through the principles of rugby 7s.

Druma said that it was PNGRFU’s goal of getting the women’s team to qualify for the Rio as they were not far off teams like Australia and Fiji.

He said the Palais would also be in the running for gold at at the upcoming 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby.

The second camp for the Palais will be next month when the squad will be cut down to 12.

The Palais squad: Dulcie Bomai, Lynette Kwarula, Patricia Harricknen, Lillian Mulake, Jemimah Meraudje, Jillian Yallon, Yarowena Morofa, Helen, Marie Siari, Naomi Alapi, Cathy Niap, Menda Ipat, Geua Larry, Hisi, Kaila Benny, Pauline Arazi, Lucy , Freda Waula, Rutha Omenefa, Kymlie Rapilla, Joanne Lagona (Port Moresby), Maureen Karo, Melissa Sindiwan (Madang), Meiling Choong (China).