Sixteen provinces set to compete in Games

THE PNG Games Sports Directorate John Susuve finalised the total number of entries for the 7th PNG BSP Games on Saturday night after the opening ceremony.
Sixteen provinces were confirmed to take part with Jiwaka, Enga, Hela, New Ireland, Western and Western Highlands all pulling out because of financial issues.
Some provinces walked out onto the stadium without their full contingents due to late arrivals nevertheless they were represented and confirmed to participate.
The sports directorate described the situation as a slow and challenging start due to the late entries coming in with the process of registration and accreditation ongoing, even up to the opening ceremony.
Team Chimbu and Southern Highlands are yet to finalise their numbers after quality checks, according to the accreditation entry summary provided after the opening ceremony on Saturday.
Team Eastern Highlands have already collected their accreditations with 317 registered members.
Team Bougainville completed accreditation and were awaiting confirmation of cards for a total number of 219.
Team Central have all their final data ready for printing; Team East New Britain had their accreditation printed along with Team East Sepik.
According to the accreditation entry summary, Team Gulf had their 105 accreditations printed and collected but their walk-out participation during the opening ceremony saw less number of athletes with confirmation that most members are yet to arrive in Kimbe.
Team Madang (390), Milne Bay (244), West Sepik (116) and Manus (173) had their accreditations all printed and collected while defending champions team Morobe which had one of the biggest contingents (658) will have their final number today.
Team NCD (565) had their printing in progress after the opening ceremony with a few members of the team yet to arrive.
Team Northern are awaiting confirmation with some of their accreditations yet to be printed while host province West New Britain (660), who will be participating in all 24 sporting codes on offer, are set to go.
Competition manager Sapau Tapo said finalising the entries had been challenging with uncertain number of entries despite the successful opening ceremony and competitions set to begin today.
“The process is still ongoing but despite all these challenges we will begin with games tomorrow,” Tapo said.