Special athletes touch up pride

 TEAM Special Olympics PNG (SOPNG) will arrive today after attending the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Sponsored by Digicel PNG, Team SOPNG won one silver and three bronze medals at their World Games debut.

Sports Minister Justin Tkatchenko was the first to congratulate the team for the medals from their outing. Judy Moi won SOPNG’s first silver medal with her throw of 2.41 metres in the shot put and Grace Dindilo won the bronze medal in the shot put.  

Moi’s mum was full of praise for her daughter winning the silver medal, as was Dindilo’s mum Hane Gabe, who is a family support network  programme officer of SOPNG.  Other medal winners were Thomas Ninkama (1500m) and Rosa Dege (100m). The rest of the SOPNG team were Winifred Kehono, Mirisa Mana, Adrian Lomon, Thomas Ninkama and Rosa Dege

“The Pacific Games is done and the feats of our athletes are still fresh from this, the performances at the Special Olympics add a touch to our sense of pride in our achievements on the international scale,” Tkatchenko said.