Taekwondo head calls for easing of visa requirements

TAEKWONDO PNG president Ower Ila has supported calls by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Opposition Leader Dame Carol Kidu for Australia to ease its visa requirements for Papua New Guineans.
They wanted a review of policy on the process of visa applications for PNG citizens.
Ila’s call comes at the back of Taekwondo PNG’s High Performance plans to relocate its elite athletes to Australia ahead of the Pacific Games 2015, and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“It’s a pity sporting authorities did not realise this soon enough to bring this up with the proper people. We have lost a lot of good potential athletes, as well as their opportunities to make a mark on the international stage,” Ila pointed out.
A long term administrator, Ila pointed out O’Neill’s comments about the aspirations of young men and women to achieve the stature in sports which Australian Wallaby Will Genia, Adrian Lam and Marcus Bai revelled in.
“Australia can either put its hand up to play this very crucial role in our elite athlete preparations or be selfish and just stand by and watch us struggle to win medals”.
“We had a situation where the Australian High Commission could not make an allowance for our only Olympic bound Theresa Tona to compete at an important ranking championship, the South Australian Open. Although she’d already qualified for the Olympics, an improved ranking would have pro­bably made a difference to her Olympic draw, and a better chance at the medal challenge”.
A similar situation was faced by the Athletics Union prior to the Australian National Titles, where sprint queen Toea Wisil could not be granted her visa on time to make it to her 100m event in Melbourne, Australia.
The visa process held Wisil back for three days and enough for her to arrive only on the morning of her pet event.
“There are, and always will be very strong bonds between Papua New Guinea and Australia. And the visa situation is at odds with those bonds,” O’Neill had said.