SHP nines postponed

By ROBINSON LEKA
THE Southern Highlands Nines rugby league tournament has been postponed to next year with organisers rescheduling the event to January following advice from provincial authorities.
Tournament coordinator Terence Kapipi told The National yesterday that the postponement was in compliance with the province’s monitoring of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
The tournament was initially set for Dec 2-5.
“We wrote to the provincial health authority in Southern Highlands and we initially planned to host the tournament in December,” Kapipi said.
“But following the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, we were forced to reschedule the tournament.
Kapipi said they were now looking at hosting the tournament in January and hoped the situation would be better they that time.
Meanwhile, Kapipi confirmed that a total of 16 teams had registered with spots still open for teams in the men’s and women’s divisions.
“We have 16 teams that have registered for the tournament with 15 of those teams in the men’s division while only one women’s team from Lae has registered,” he said.
“We only have five teams from the Southern Highlands while the other 10 are from outside centres like Lae, Goroka, Mt Hagen and Port Moresby. “East Taraka Tigers, from Lae, were the only club that registered its men’s and women’s teams, so the women from East Taraka are the only confirmed women’s side so far.
“The postponement to next year will now allow us time to extend invitations and registrations for next year.
“We’re hoping to have eight women’s teams and 20 men’s teams by January.”