Team PNG welcomed to Games Village

THE Team PNG were welcomed to the Commonwealth Games Village earlier this week with a ceremony held in the International Zone, the official welcoming of teams to the Gold Coast.
Team PNG marched into the ceremonial arena before special guest, Governor-General, Sir Bob Dadae and his wife Lady Hannah.
Team PNG was welcomed to the Games and the land by the Yugambeh language group, the traditional owners of the land where the Games Village is situated.
The hope of the organising committee was that all athletes and team officials gained a deeper understanding of the local culture, from indigenous traditions to swing dancing, uniting local performers from a diverse range of creative passions, and to experience the fun and energy of not only of Australia but of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The flag-raising during the team welcome ceremony was an especially poignant moment where PNG’s chef de mission Tamzin Wardley was presented with an Aboriginal Shield.
The shield represented the watering holes that, at times, would need to be dug up by the Aboriginal people to survive.
Village co-mayors Sarah Carrigan, an Olympian to Athens in 2004, and Mark Stockwell, Australia’s only Olympic triple medalist at the Los Angeles in 1984 made a short welcoming speech to the team.