Preparations in limbo

Normal, Sports
Source:

The National, Wednesday 15th May 2013

 THEY are called minor sports but they have potential to rake medals for Papua New Guinea in any regional and international sporting events.

Bodybuilding, weightlifting, powerlifting and squash are some of the minor sports which are facing difficulties preparing their teams for the upcoming 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby.

Realistically, these minor sports have no venues for training or run their competition. Their only home, Taurama Leisure Centre (TLC) have been demolished to make way for the new Taurama Aquatic Centre and Indoor Complex for 2015 Games. 

Bodybuilders from Port Moresby which form the nucleus of PNG bodybuilding team have expressed concern that their training would be adversely affected with redevelopment work currently underway at the site of the former TLC. 

Lucas Wemin, the former Mr PNG, said with the gym being the main training facility for local bodybuilders in the city, athletes would not have access to an affordable facility. 

He said this would now put training regimes in jeopardy with the new Taurama Aquatic Centre and gymnasium not slated for completion until late 2014 leaving competitors especially national representatives less time to prepare their physiques heading into the 2015 Pacific Games.

Wemin said individual sports were more likely to bring in medals compared to team sports and therefore athletes needed all the help they could get including having affordable facilities to train in.

He told The National yesterday that bodying building and weightlifting are the sports that would suffer the most.

Wemin appealed to the government and PNG Sports Federation and Olympic Committee to provide an alternative facility not only for body builders and weightlifters but for other athletes that train with weights. “This is very serious and I urge to the Sports and Pacific Games Minister Justin Tkatchenko to come up with an alternative, affordable venue,” Wemin said. “Taurama is the cheapest gym in Port Moresby that low income earners or grassroots sportsmen and woman use for training and exercise.”

“Majority of the bodybuilders and weightlifters are unemployed and cannot afford to train at Life Gym, Holiday Inn and elsewhere,” he said.

“Our preparation for the national titles on June 8 in Kokopo is being impacted greatly but we are using improvised or modified metals and iron rods to keep our muscles in shape for the event”

Squash spokesman John Kambuou said his sports is badly hit by bad decision made by Venue Infrastructure and Equipment Committee (VIEC) that they will not concentrate on minor sports until the major infrastructure works for the 2015 Games are done.

“We (squash) have a frustrating episode with training venues. First of all, the squad does not have a home after the landlord of the Taurama Squash and Racket Court decided to sell the premises,” he said.

During 1991, the PNG Games Foundation invested K500,000 in upgrading the facilities for the Games which was the grave mistakes as Taurama Squad and Racket Court no longer exist.

Kambuou said his federation under president Edmond Pereira has been fighting and have submitted proposal and plans to VIEC for a squash centre for 2015 Pacific Games, that off course would leave a legacy after the Games, however, it seem that squash is fighting against the brick wall. 

“We don’t want the repeat of 1991 Games which now left us (squash) with nothing – no home,” he said.

It is expensive to hire courts in Holiday Inn. Many of the members of the squash development team are students and cannot afford the high fee at Holiday Inn.

Kambuou said squash does not want the use private club premises. 

“The biggest problem for squash is lack of appropriate venues so we are hoping that 2015 Games will give or provide us the facilities,” he said.

Squash have an excellent program with international schools such as Koroboro, Gordons International and Wardstrip community School but there is no proper venue train the players.

Most of the current venues are clubs where people are drinking alcohol which is not conducive to bring children to.

There are similar cases with weightlifting and powerlifting. It is likely that weightlifting will return to Hanuabada village where they will do their training with make-shift equipment under the mango tree to prepare for the 2015 Games.