PNGOC praises efforts

THE Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) has lauded its efforts in what has been a difficult year for sport and the country in general.
In a statement last week, PNGOC said the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic had challenged administrators, sports men and women, followers and organisations including them as an event-based, non-profit, non-governmental organisation.
“This year was an Olympic year, of which Team PNG was supposed to attend the Tokyo Games scheduled for July,” PNGOC said.
“However, as the global spread of the virus became more eminent, a historic decision was made by the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Games to 2021.
“This was done in order to safeguard the health of the athlete and hundreds and thousands of people involved in the Games.”
This meant Team PNG athletes vying to qualify for the Olympics had to adapt to the postponement of the Olympic Games and re-adjust their plans and focus to 2021.
PNGOC is a values-based organisation which upholds honesty, excellence, respect and openness as values in its endeavours throughout the duration of the current strategic plan (2016-2020), which ends this month.
The organisation began its review of its current strategic plan during the downtime afforded from sport by the global pandemic, which resulted in a drafted documentation to be shared with national federations and stakeholders for further feedback prior to the finalisation of a new strategic plan for 2021-2024 term.
Also being developed is the Team PNG Games strategic plan.
Both documents are essential for PNGOC’s future operations as it evaluates the successes and shortcomings of this period.
PNGOC was able to hold its annual general assembly in June, in the midst of the lifting of the restrictions.
A limited number of attendees were required as per venue and government restrictions for public gatherings. 2020 was an important year for PNGOC, which saw the election of new executives.
Outgoing executives Sydney Yates, Tamzin Wardley, Mel Donald and Emma Waiwai – who have been cornerstones of PNGOC for a large part of three decades – were farewelled.
On the same note, the changing of the guard saw the inclusion of Olympian Iammo Launa as female vice-president, Tony Green as senior vice-president and Kila Dick as male vice-president while Michael Henao was elected as fundraising chairman oand Faye Zina-Lalo re-elected as the legal adviser and Sir John Dawanincura maintaining his position as president for one final term.
New treasurer Peter Davani was appointed in September.
PNGOC and national federations participated in various technical workshops throughout the year, finalising the new national sports policy.
A one-week Olympic camp was held in Goroka at the National Sports Institute from Oct 25 to Nov 2. The camp was made possible through the funding support of the PacificAus Sports Partnership Programme which brought together 30 targeted athletes and coaches based in PNG from athletics, boxing, rugby sevens, shooting, table tennis, tennis and weightlifting that are still vying to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Sailing is the only sport to have secured two spots for Team PNG in the men’s laser and women’s laser radial events. Teariki Numa and Rose-Lee Numa are the athletes to have secured the spots after claiming the second Oceania quota at the Oceania Sailing Championships held earlier in the year.
The SP Sports Awards were launched in early February with South Pacific Brewery, however, with the increasing risks brought on by Covid-19 and the enactment of the restriction protocols, the organising committee had to cancel the event for the first time in its 28-year existence. It was agreed that the future awards consider the nominees for efforts in 2019 and 2020.
The Trukai Fun Run, which is an annual fundraising event on the PNGOC calendar, was also postponed to next year due to the uncertainty brought about by the global pandemic. Being a non-profit organisation, PNGOC relies heavily on fundraising events such as the Trukai Fun Run to raise much needed funds to help send Team PNG to compete overseas at the Olympics, Commonwealth or Pacific Games.
PNGOC also thanked partner ExxonMobil PNG through which it was able to deliver and make an impact through such a significant programme to equip athletes for the everyday challenges in life. Athletes should not only be seen as role models in their respective sporting arena but also in their communities.
Lae Golf Club was the first destination to kick start PNGOC’s fundraising efforts on Oct 11 as part of the Prime Minister’s Golf Challenge amidst the lifting of the restrictions. A total of 36 teams registered and participated, which was a record turnout of teams for this event in Lae.
Port Moresby turned up in numbers for the Primes Ministers Golf Challenge on Oct 30 as 57 teams registered and participated, the largest ever and a record for the event. Prime Minister James Marape teed off the proceedings and also participated with the PM’s Team in what was a much needed fundraising boost for Team PNG.
Champions Melson Trading, from Mt Hagen, were quite surprisingly the first dual Lae and Port Moresby champions of the Prime Ministers Golf Challenge.
To mark Olympic Day in June, PNGOC and Australian High Commission, through High Commissioner Jon Philp, announced a new partnership that would give PNG athletes world-class preparation in their bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
The support of A$250,000 (K526,000) brings the PNG-Australia Sports cooperation to a new level, and PNGOC is truly indebted to the support shown by the Australian government.
In September, briefings were held with national federations on the new justification committee timelines where they were required to justify their sport for 2023 Pacific Games, and 2022 Commonwealth Games and Pacific Mini Games.
Tokyo Olympic sports were also required to justify their targeted athletes and officials. Justification committee meetings with each sport were held from Sept 28 to Oct 2.
PNGOC’s last major event for 2020 was the sixth PNG Sports Hall of Fame held at the Port Moresby Arts Theatre.
This year’s inductees were Takale Tuna, Wavala Kali (athletics) and the late Robert Stewart (shooting).
The majority of PNGOC programmes, events and goals for 2020 would not have been achieved without the great support from our family of sponsors including Trukai Industries, Air Niugini, Capital Insurance, ExxonMobil PNG, SP Brewery, Brian Bell Group, The National, Coral Sea Hotels, IBSU, Theodist, Blue 7 Team, Media Partners and Trophy Haus.
“Despite a difficult period in 2020, we were fortunate to maintain the majority of our sponsors,” PNGOC said.
“Even more resounding was their commitment to back Team PNG and PNGOC in 2021.
“Their commitment to supporting Team PNG is truly immeasurable and is a reflection of the strong relationship built over the many shared years together.”
PNGOC acknowledged the assistance of the Brian Bell Group and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The PNGOC board, management and staff wished its sponsors, partners, national federations and stakeholders a merry Christmas and looked forward to their continued support in championing the efforts of Team PNG next year.