Sepik rugby 7s tourney to have matches for hearing-impaired persons

By ROBINSON LEKA
NEXT month’s Greater Sepik Invitational Sevens tournament will host friendly matches for the Papua New Guinea Rugby Union’s (PNGRU) deaf programme.
East Sepik Rugby Union president Emmanuel Tomarum said the tournament would be held from Dec 4-5. “We want the tournament to be inclusive, so we will look to involve deaf rugby for the sevens next month,” he said.
“It’s one of PNGRU’s development programme and we’d like to see it grow with an opportunity to have more matches for them.
“Deaf rugby is just starting now and we want the tournament to be inclusive of it. The tournament is a sanctioned under PNGRU, so we want to see that everyone has an opportunity to play.”
Tomarum said they had also introduced a women’s division to increase the number of females taking part in next month’s tournament.
“We are looking at four spots for the women’s division,” he said.
“It’s a minimum of four spots, so it would be great if we could get more teams to register and play.”
Deaf rugby has become part of PNGRU’s impact programmes for development.
The programmes focus on rapid and high-quality growth as well as the inclusion of women and girls.
They are also aimed at people who are deaf.
With rugby union as a drawcard, and activities that enhance the sport’s systems in addressing challenges around gender and disability stereotypes, the programmes seek to improve the prospects, inclusion and empowerment of women and girls as well as the deaf community.