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Is a PNG team without athletics,
weightlifting and boxing our best?
By Martin Liri
ATHLETICS, weightlifting and boxing have been dropped from participating at the forthcoming Mini Pacific Games in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in September. Two other sports – golf and table tennis – have also been given the boot by the PNG Sports Federation appointed Justification Committee for lack of international competitions. For athletics, weightlifting and boxing – the reasons given are their administrators failed to meet certain requirements set by the PNG Sports Federation. An appeals committee has upheld the decision so it seems all avenues have been exhausted The Appeals committee has some respectable names in the legal circles as its members. So in terms of fairness there doesn’t seem to be anything sinister about its decision. This committee would have obviously been furnished with guidelines or terms of reference that guided them. And they obviously made a decision based on those guidelines. PNG Sports Federation would have been provided any clarification if there was any need for that. The federation thrives – or so they say – on professionalism and fulfilling administrative requirements on schedule. So we cannot bat for the administrators of these three sports who are reported to have failed to adhere to warnings sent out to all sports nominated for the mini games. But the athletes need someone to bat for them. And for the athletes we ask PNG Sports Federation led by Sir John Dawanincura as its Secretary General and who advises the federation executive headed by president Sir Henry ToRobert – to allow common sense to prevail. Not for the administrators but for the athletes – the innocent lambs that have been sacrificed for the administrative bangles, which they have no control over. What has happened to that sermon about sports being “about the sportsmen and women”, we ask. Therefore the sports administrators should be penalized – not the athletes. Find another method to penalize the administrators – not the athletes who seem to have become the meat in the sandwich once again. Also the consequences of sending a team without three of our big medal winners are crystal clear. Athletics, weightlifting and boxing have proved on countless occasions that they have given PNG its status as one of the powerhouses of sports in the Pacific region. Take them out of the equation and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out the consequences. The chances of PNG ending up with its worst ever mini games performances ever on the medal tally seems inevitable. So if athletics, boxing and weightlifting are not there – you can liken the situation to PNG sending a sub-standard side – something that the federation has continuously preached about not doing. This is by no means disrespect to the other sports who have fulfilled the requirements. They will obviously send their best available competitors to the games and if they have prepared well, will win their fair share of medals. But the glaring question is – will that be enough to prop up PNG on the medal tally like athletics, weightlifting and boxing have done in the past? Your views toMartin Liri |
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