Rio welcomes Team PNG

TEAM PNG was officially welcomed to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Village on Friday.
The village welcome is a tradition at the Olympics and provides the opportunity for the Mayor of the Games Village to officially welcome each country and for the flag of the country to be raised at the village.
Mayor of the Rio 2016 Village, Brazilian basketball star and Olympic medallist Janeth Arcain greeted Team PNG along with the teams from Iceland, Luxembourg, Oman, Sierra Leone and South Sudan in what was the last of the Village welcome ceremonies.
Team PNG was pleased to have joined them for the welcome ceremony, with vice-minister for Sports Labi Amaiu, who had earlier spent the day at the Commonwealth Sports Ministers meeting.
After the raising of the PNG flag and the playing of the national anthem, chef de mission Emma Waiwai presented a gift on behalf of the team to Arcain.
The gift, a decorative carving of the Team PNG logo, was custom-made in PNG for the occasion. When handing over the gift, Waiwai shared her team’s pleasure to be in Rio for the Games and the amazing hospitality shown to them in the village.
Waiwai and Arcain also shared a light moment about their love of basketball and former playing days.
Waiwai then wrote a message on behalf of the Team on the Olympic Wall of Truce joining the messages of the other 206 national Olympic committees participating at the Games.
The ceremony centered around a fervent performance from local dancers showcasing the traditions of Brazilian music and dance over its existence, culminating in a contemporary samba street party.
Team PNG athlete Toea Wisil was first to join in the celebrations with the performance.
Toea had arrived in Rio on Thursday night along with coach Alison Fairweather. Also at the ceremony were Ryan Pini, Raymond Ovinou and the taekwondo athletes, Samantha Kassman and Maxemillion Kassman. Samantha and Maxemillion had earlier that morning joined the team after arriving in the village for the first time.