Pukpuks triumph in city pool

 BY LARRY ANDREW
ELA Pukpuks won the Lae Corporate 8-Ball Pool Challenge against GS Marine 4-3 in the cup final on Saturday.
This is the second year of the corporate pool competition in partnership with Lae’s Aviat Social and Sporting Club.
The competition was sponsored by PNG Ports with K10,000 and attracted 16 corporate teams.
In the plate final, new teams Prima Smallgoods and Able Computing beat their more fancied opponents in Post Courier, SP Brewery, Mapai Transport and RECA Engineering to play off for the plate.
Prima had the upper hand, beating Able 4-2 in the decider.
Pukpuks, who only joined the competition this season, led the standings, with Voco Point’s GS Marine team hot on their heels.
The Marines won the first frame with captain Gilbert Tan beating Raka Kopina to set the pace for his side.
The turning point of the final was in the third match where the Pukpuks won the women’s doubles.
From then on the game went down to wire to tie at three frames each.
The Pukpuks, banking on the experience of Arua Simoi as a representative player, won the final frame to claim a 4-3 victory.
Pukpuks captain Francis Sabeniano said Marine started well but his team managed to tip the scales, with  the women and doubles doing their part and Simoi  seeing them home safe.