PNGOC marches on amid pandemic

THE Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) on Aug 2 commemorated 60 years of existence in orchestrating sports development since its establishment in 1961.
It was a year of disruptions, delays and challenges as the Coronavirus (Covid-19) continued to dampen athlete preparations, sporting activities and events.
This included the planned 60th milestone celebrations and other PNGOC fundraising events.
This was while the global attention was on Tokyo for the postponed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The Games were held from July 23 to Aug 8 with Covid-19 protocols provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Tokyo Games coordination committee and the host organising committee.
This was done as a commitment and resolution to have the Games within the “new normal” in 2021.
“Despite the challenges as a direct result of the global pandemic, we are grateful for the support from our family of corporate partners and stakeholders, including the Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Government, through its PacificAus Sports programme,” PNGOC said in a statement.
“Their support enabled PNGOC to send a Team PNG contingent of eight athletes and 11 officials, led by chef de mission Tamzin Wardley, to Tokyo.”
Among the eight athletes, five made their Olympic debut as they joined an elite list of men and women to have donned the red, black and gold at an Olympic Games.
Rellie Kaputin (athletics), John Ume (boxing), Ryan Maskelyne (swimming), Rose-Lee Numa (sailing) and Teariki Numa (sailing) became Olympians as they set out to achieve their goals against the world’s best athletes in their sport.
Highlights of the Games included Morea Baru finishing 10th in the men’s 61kg, Rellie Kaputin finishing in the top-20 in the women’s long jump, Ryan Maskelyne breaking the national record and his personal best in the 200m breaststroke.

Judith Meauri won her heat in the women’s 50m freestyle, Ume fought bravely in the 63kg event against the Aussie who went on to win Australia’s first boxing medal in more than 30 years and sailing siblings of Rose-Lee and Teariki sailed valiantly.
Dika Toua became the first female weightlifter to lift at five Olympic Games.
Toua also created history when she became the first and youngest female at the tender age of 16 to participate when the sport was introduced during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Preparations for the athletes were severely hampered by the pandemic as the athletes and their coaches improvised, persevered and had to be flexible with their respective plans to ensure their athletes were prepared as best as possible under the current circumstances.
PNGOC was able to secure additional sponsorships and forged new working partnerships with Jack’s of PNG through the design and supply of the Team PNG walkout wear to the Tokyo Games, Brian Bell Group with its ‘B the Best’ Olympic campaign and City Pharmacy Limited (CPL) Group vouchers for Team PNG.
The National Gaming Control Board and Kumul Consolidated Holdings Limited (KCH) assisted PNGOC with sending Team PNG to Tokyo.
PNGOC developed its performance strategy for Team PNG to achieve its vision of becoming the best-performing Pacific Island nation at all major multi-sport Games it competes in from 2021 through to 2024.
The strategy has 18 programmes focused on five key areas, including support to targeted elites athletes, performance-based standards, development pathways, elite performance expertise and the formation of Team PNG’s performance partnership.

Team PNG’s selection policies for athletes and officials were also updated to reflect the current circumstances which saw PNGOC board endorse mandatory Covid-19 vaccination for Team PNG.
With international travel only allowing vaccinated individuals, it is necessary in order to minimise travel difficulties, and to safeguard athletes and officials who will be part of Team PNG for future Games.
The formation of Team PNG’s performance partnership was the priority of the strategy that saw key stakeholders come together towards achieving Team PNG’s vision of being the best-performing Pacific Island nation.
The first meeting of the partnership saw the presentation of Team PNG’s strategy to Sports Minister Wesley Raminai, PNG Sports Foundation executive director Albert Veratau, National Sports Institute and High Performance Sport PNG.
The partnership also includes representatives from national federations.
KCH came on board to collaborate with PNGOC to assist with funding support to implement Team PNG’s strategy, which has seen initial support provided to several federations’ domestic competitions in their high performance plans.
Athletics PNG was one of the first federations to receive support through the strategy and KCH which saw them run their national championships in Kimbe recently.
The annual review of a memorandum of understanding between PNGOC and the foundation took place last month where both organisations were able to review the collaboration of its respective areas of cooperation.
The review was an important part of PNGOC’s and PNGSF’s commitment to ensuring they were ready to assist with the implementation of the national sports policy that was launched earlier this month.
The policy comes as a major boost for all key stakeholders in the sporting arena as they look towards providing better support to federations and its athletes and coaches.
“As a non-government organisation, we’re is indebted to the continued commitment and partnership with its family of corporate partners despite the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 on the economy and businesses in the country,” PNGOC said.

“Our family of 2021 corporate partners were The National, Kumul Consolidated Holdings, PacificAus Sports, National Gaming Control Board; Trukai Industries, Brian Bell Group, South Pacific Brewery, ExxonMobil PNG, Coral Sea Hotels, Institute of Business Studies University, Theodist, CPL Group, Media Partners, Trophy Haus, Jack’s of PNG and Blue7 Team.”
Marred by lockdowns again in 2021, PNGOC was not able to stage its two main fundraising activities under the banners of the long-running annual Trukai Fun Run for the second consecutive year since 2020 and the Prime Minister’s Corporate Golf Challenge in 2021.
These fundraisers provide crucial support for Team PNG to the multi-sport games, as well as funding to other essential activities undertaken by PNGOC to strengthen its member federations and their athletes and officials.
While the annual Trukai Fun Run was not possible this year, the close and good working partnership with Trukai Industries saw the sale of 25,000 T-shirts in just under three months before the Tokyo Games.
“We extend our gratitude to the organisations and individuals that supported with the purchasing of T-shirts despite the event not going ahead,” PNGOC said.
PNGOC held its annual general assembly in June where Teqball PNG was the latest sport to be added to the committee’s membership list.
The new sport was elected in as a new federation to bring the total number to 40 members.
“Our games and programmes division was able to hold and achieve some of its events in 2021 with the delivery of a range of activities together with the support of our partners,” PNGOC said.
“These included the Oceania Sports Education Programme (OSEP) community coach and official, sport in community administration and gender equity workshops in Port Moresby in June, and the OSEP consultation workshops in three provinces, including online sessions and our Athlete Hero training in September.”
Whilst a planned soccer tournament, under the Kicks for Kokoda partnership between the Kokoda Track Foundation and Grassroots Soccer, had been postponed to February due to the Niupela Pasin measures, other components of the partnership proceeded in Kokoda and Buna villages in Northern.
The initiative uses sports to empower adolescents, increase health-seeking behaviours and promote gender equality while strengthening the participants’ passion for sports.
n addition, PNGOC – with the support of ExxonMobil PNG – was also able to commemorate Olympic Week with the rest of the Olympic movement when restrictions were lifted in June.
Students from eight selected primary schools within the National Capital District were taught to keep in line with the three pillars – learn, move and discover – of Olympic Day.
Under PNGOC’s athlete excellence programme, IBS University increased the number of scholarships for Team PNG athletes to take up studies with the IBS College of Tvet.
“It’s an extremely important partnership for Team PNG for which we are grateful,” PNGOC said.
“With social distancing now practised, we acknowledge EMTV for partnering us to air the first Team PNG virtual farewell for the Tokyo Games, as most of the athletes and their coaches were based overseas.
“We also thank and acknowledge the support of major sponsor SP Brewery and support sponsors in delivering the 28th edition of the SP Sports Awards, a virtual first in 2021, which was held to recognise achievements in 2019 and 2020.
“Next year looks to be another busy time, starting with the Queen’s baton scheduled to visit PNG from Jan 29-31 as it makes its journey around the Commonwealth as a prelude to the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.”
PNGOC is expected to make announcements early next month on where the Queen’s baton relay will visit as it continues on its journeys across 90km of the 71 Commonwealth nations and territories before arriving in Birmingham for the Games in July.
Team PNG will participate in two Games in 2022, the June 17-25 Pacific Mini Games in Saipan, Northern Marianas, and the July 27-Aug 7 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
“We look forward to your continued support of Team PNG to inspire and unite PNG through sporting excellence and success when our athletes compete on the international stage,” PNGOC said.
“PNGOC wishes everyone a wonderful New Year.”