Sports Minister’s Futsal comp ends on high note

The Sports Minister’s Futsal challenge over the weekend finished off on a high note with much anticipated interested from the corporate sector teams that participated.
Competition coordinator Percy Mataio said the games were entertaining, competitive and exciting with a lot of employees from corporate organisations playing.
Sports Ministry NTSL were crowned champions in the men’s division winning K700 while BSP claimed the runners-up prize of K500.
In the mixed division, Digicel PNG came out on top as winners claiming K700 and runners-up Air Niugini PX Jetz got K500.
“We need to do more awareness prior to the games and also need support from corporate houses to host such events given the level of interest it generates and the quality of the venue and the precinct that hosts such events,” Mataio said
“Futsal is a new concept and we would like to see it grow and become popular in all the centres as well.
“Hopefully we can be able to participate in international tournaments and also look to host international futsal tournaments given the quality of our facilities we have in PNG.
“We would like to see more support from the stakeholders to ensure that we continue to run this concept and popularise it through other means such as sponsorship and venue hire.
“We also look to extend this concept to all parts of the country and are looking at hosting a regional futsal championship that will see provinces engaging and participating in a fully-fledged competition. “This Sports Minister’s Futsal challenge gave us a clear indication that the Sports Vice-Minister Wesley Raminai is serious about supporting healthy habits by using futsal to engage with the public to voice this message.
“There was overwhelming support from the corporate houses that participated and we look forward to hosting our second challenge next month.”