Testing time

By PATRICIA KEAMO
PREPARATIONS for Team Papua New Guinea for the Pacific Games are well underway with more than 500 athletes undergoing high performance testing and screening, says PNG High Performance Sport manager Cornelius Papau.
Papau said PNGHPS was currently conducting the second round of tests and screening for the athletes and teams from the 26 codes set to compete at the games in Honiara, Solomon Islands from Nov 19-Dec 2 with the final round of tests scheduled for August.
“We’ve got four months to go before the Pacific Games and from the 26 sports confirmed, 24 national federations have sent their team and athletes for testing and screening except for rugby league and football (soccer),” Papau told The National yesterday.
Currently we’re in our second testing and screening phase. All of the sports have gone through, only a few couple that are still yet to come through, like rugby league and soccer.
“But a lot of them have gone through (the screening process), so we’re happy with the turnout of the second screening and testing for the team PNG.”
Papau added that the justification committee (that he’s part of) met last week to review the first and second phase test results and a number of national federations have trimmed their squads down.
“We have come to see the real team now. They’re in training now, so we have four months left to ensure that all the athletes and coaches are on top of what they purposely will get out there and do,” Papau said.
“The soccer women’s team have come in for the first testing phase but have not turned up for the second one but we are working to get them in. The PNG Olympic Committee are also working with the administration to get them in as soon as possible to get through the screening and testing phase.
“It’s very, very important for them to attend all the sessions so we can understand where we are in terms of our athletes’ performances and also where our coaches are.”
The testing and screening covers four aspects, athlete nutrition, physiotherapy, psychology and physical tests.
Papau said the final testing phase for the Team PNG athletes would be conducted from the end of July to early August before the final teams were endorsed by the justification committee under the PNG Olympic Committe.
He said the first round of testing and screening was a bit slow but real progress has being made in the second phase with teams showing a real focus in their preparation as the endorsement of the respective officials to the Pacific Games early this month helped with the preparation.
“The screening and testing that we conducted in high performance is very important and vital for the preparation,” said Papau.
“It assists our officials, sports medicine team and our strength and conditioning coaches to draw a programme to understand where the athlete is with his or her performance.
“The screening phase is important as it enables federations and coaches to have firsthand information of the particular athlete they are selecting.”