Visa issue causes U23 nines side to miss flight

GURIAS’ Dickson Amea will captain the the PNG Under-23 side at tomorrow’s Commonwealth Championships at Dolphin Stadium, Redcliffe, Queensland.
The 15-man side which was scheduled to leave yesterday missed their flight beauce most of the contingent could not get their visas processed in time.
The team is set to travel this morning and are in danger of missing their opening Pool B match against England which kicks off at 10.40am.
Amea, who was named captain after the withdrawal of Stanford Talita, John Ragi Jr and Yabra Kuk. Geno said due to visa issues their departure to Brisbane was deferred and rescheduled and they would instead get to Redcliffe via Cairns with the assistance of Air Niugini. The team returns to Port Moresby on Sunday afternoon.
He said Amea was the only experienced player from the Digicel Cup and would be leading the mostly 22-year-olds who would be debuting at an international tournament.
Although PNG are the inaugural winners of the Under-20 version of the tournament back in 2014, this year’s edition looks certain to be a much tougher assignment given the quality of the field.
“We trained together as a team for only two days at the Sir John Guise Stadium but team spirit is high and the boys just want to get out there and play,” coach Colin geno said. PNG U23s: Jah Hogan, Ross Ravu, Emmanuel Allai, Dickson Amea, Raiven Jonnah, Ilias Stanley, Nemiah Joel, Nick Oliver, Epel Kapinias, Norman Brown, Jordan Millie, Paul Uro, Jordan Kuno, Rex Kaupa, Christopher Taria.
Fixtures: Fri, Feb 23 – Pool B: PNG v England (10.40am), PNG v Tonga (1.45pm), PNG v Samoa (4.50pm).