PNG expected to do

well in Barcelona

AS THE country that convincingly won last year’s South Pacific Games

(SPG), Papua New

Guinea is expected to do well at the Olym pics in Barcelona.

The three SPG gold medallists Subul Babo (400 m, 4 x 100 m and 4 x 400 m), lammo Fauna (Jav elin and Heptathlon) and Ezekiel Wartovo

(100 m annd 4 x

100 m) were then joined by Mobil Elite

Squad athletes

Baobo Duaba Neuendorf and Kaminieki Selot to participate in the Australian Cham pionships in Adel aide in March. The highlight was the sixth place gained by Babo in the the men’s

400 m final.

But most of PNG’s preparations for Barcelona has taken place in the country.

Distance runner Rosemary Turare has been racing the men on a regular basis to make her more competitive. This has seen her break seven national records at distances between 3000 m and the half marathon.

Athletics is expected to send seven competitors and two officials, but the final team will be finalised in early July after the Nationals.

Of the four boxers fighting in Barcelona, bantamweight John Sem is thought to have potential for a medal win according to PNG boxing officials. Of his 24 bouts (11 international) he has won 18 and has been the PNG title holder since 1988. In the World Championships in Sydney last year he was thought to have the upper hand against his Thai opponent, but the fight was stopped because his nose wouldn’t stop bleeding. The boxers will be accompanied by three officials.

Weightlifting’s sole participant will be Paul Enuki. This will be the second time PNG has entered Olympic weightlifting.

The country’s only credible performance in the sport was in the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games when John Shea won a silver medal. To improve its performance and gain foreign assistance weightlifting has been affiliated to the International Weightlifting Federation and the Oceania Weightlifting Feder ation.

The fourth sport PNG will compete in is boardsailing with Graham Numa as the only entrant. Numa became the first Papua New Guinean to win the National

Sailboarding Championship.

He has also competed in the Winsurfing Worlds and the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

Numa teamed up with Kevin Pini and Mark Bishop to win the silver medal at last year’s SPG. Pini will manage Numa to Barcelona.

Apart from the competitors and their officials there will also be a management team of two, a two member medical team and four VIPs that make up the PNG contingent.

This will be PNG’s fourth Olympics, having first competed in Montreal in 1976.

Tony Philp: windsurfer from Fiji