Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Sport

Team PNG to Arrive Home on Friday

By Inside PNG 10/08/2022

Team PNG will arrive back in the country at 5:10am on Friday morning (August 12) from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The contingent departed Birmingham on Wednesday, August 10 and will transit through France and Singapore and then to Port Moresby.

Three members will go through Dubai and meet up with the rest of the contingent in Singapore for the final leg home.

The US based athletes of Team Papua New Guinea are already en-route back to their respective states.

While the swimming team have already arrived safely back in Brisbane, Australia.

The official welcome back function for Team Papua New Guinea will be held on Saturday, August 13 at the Taurama Aquatic Centre from 12pm-2pm in Port Moresby.

Team PNG finished 35^th at the Games with one silver medal.

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Sport

Baru, flag bearer for Team PNG at Closing Ceremony

By Inside PNG 07/08/2022

Team PNG’s silver medalist Morea Baru has been announced as the country’s flag bearer for the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games Scheduled for Monday 8^th August, 2022.

The closing ceremony will commencing 8pm UK/5am+1 PNG Time.

Baru won the silver medal in the Men’s 61kgs division of the Weightlifting Competition, outclassing his rivals bar one.

Chef de Mission Michael Henao congratulated Baru on his appointment. “What a Privilege it is to carry the Flag of a thousand tribes, and what a privilege it is for the Team to be led by you”, Henao said

Baru is no stranger to Commonwealth Games success. In 2018 he won a silver medal at the Games on the Gold Coast and has represented PNG at Numerous world and regional Weightlifting competitions including the Olympic Games.

In a small gathering held by Team PNG General Management Team on Saturday, Baru was acknowledged for his achievement and given the honours of cutting the Cake on behalf of the team.

All athletes and officials were also presented commemorative medals by the Commonwealth Games Federation for their participation at the games.

The little ‘kibung’ was also used to thank the Team Assistants / Volunteers assigned To Team PNG.

“Our team assistants were very helpful during our entire time at Birmingham Assisting the General Management Team and the respective sports. They have Made it easy for us throughout our stay and we thank them for that,” Henao said

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Sport

New National Record for Women’s 4x100m Relay

By Inside PNG 07/08/2022

Team PNG’s Women’s 4x100m Relay quartet of Adrine Monagi, Toea Wisil, Isila Apkup and Leonie Beu set a new national record of 45.38 seconds in front of a packed Alexander Stadium on Saturday morning.

Despite finishing sixth in their heat, the time was still good enough surpassing the 45.85 recorded at the recent 2022 Pacific Mini Games in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands.

In other results from Day 9 of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Feanor Siaguru and Madako Suari Jnr proved too strong for Guyana’s Shomari Wiltshire and Jason-Ray Khalil with a 2-0 win in the Plate Quarter-Final of the squash Men’s Doubles.

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Sport

Iga sets PB in Men’s Decathlon

By Inside PNG 06/08/2022

PNG’s Karo Iga’s valiant efforts in the Men’s Decathlon saw him rewarded with a Personal Best next to his name at Alexander Stadium on Friday night.

Over the two days of competition, Iga set Personal Bests in the 100m with 10.94 seconds, in the Shot Put with a throw of 11.05 meters and in the 400m after clocking 48.61.

Iga Sets PB in Men's Decathlon - Pole Jump

Iga also set a Season’s Best in the 110m Hurdles recording a time of 16.73.

There were three more Personal Bests for Iga in the Discus Throw with 31.88, in the Pole Vault clearing 3.90 meters, Javelin Throw with 51.30 meters and ending with another Season’s Best in the 1500m with a time of 4:56.54.

Iga finished with a total of 6761 points placing seventh overall.

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Sport

PNG Boxers Bow Out

By Inside PNG 05/08/2022

Results for Team PNG boxers on Day 7 of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, sees fighters Neville Warupi (Welterweight), Arthur Lavalou (Heavyweight) and Jamie Chang (Bantamweight) all bowing out in the quarter finals.

Warupi went the full three rounds against Tyler Jolly from Scotland with Jolly winning on points.

Lavalou’s bout against England’s Lewis Williams was stopped by the referee midway through the first round with the win awarded to Williams.

Chang fought on gallantly right up until the last round with Owain Harris-Allan from Wales winning on points.

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Sport

Agari Narrowly Misses out on First Win

By Inside PNG 04/08/2022

Team PNG’s Tammi Agari narrowly missed out on a win in her second match against Fiji’s Touea Titana in the Women’s Singles table tennis event at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on Wednesday.

The sixteen-year-old from Tubusereia in the Central Province, managed to shake off the nerves after the loss of her first match to push her Fijian opponent all the way into the seventh game only to be edged out 4-3 (18 – 16, 10 – 12, 9 – 11, 12 –10, 11 – 4, 6 – 11, 11 – 9).

In the Men’s Singles, Geoffrey Loi put up spirited performances in his 4-0 losses to Barbados’ Tyrese Knight and to Malaysia’s Qi Shen Wong.

Loi and Agari are students at the Butuka Academy in Port Moresby and do long commuting every day from Tubusereia to school, then after to training and then back home to Tubusereia.

Amongst the Team PNG supporters in the crowd was Chef de Mission Michael Henao who commended the two youngsters on their improved performances stating “A lot of sacrifice, has been put in by our athletes and officials to prepare for this competition and we encourage support from our fellow Papua New Guineans back in Papua New Guinea and around the world,”

“Unless we have walked, run and played in their shoes, we will truly appreciate their hard work and sacrifices – the sweat, the tears and the hardship that came with it.” Henao said

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International

Medals Within Reach for PNG Boxers

By Inside PNG 03/08/2022

PNG Boxers Neville Warupi, Arthur Lavalou and Jamie Chang have reached the boxing quarter finals of the Commonwealth Games set for this Thursday.

Heavyweight (Over 86kg-92kg) boxer, Lavalou and Chang in the Bantamweight (Over 51kg-54kg) division had byes which pushed them straight into the quarter finals.

In the Welterweight (Over 63.5kg-67kg) division, Warupi booked his spot after beating Solomon Islands’ Pemberton Lele on points (4-1) on Tuesday at the NEC.

PNG Boxer, Neville Warupi at Commonwealth Games 2022 — PNG Boxer, Neville Warupi

PNG Boxer, Neville Warupi, win bout against Solomon Islands opponent at Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022 — PNG Boxer, Neville Warupi

An elated Warupi said there was no shortage of motivation going into the fight against Lele.

“With John Ume, Charles Keama and Allan Oaike all bowing out earlier, this is what pushed me to want the win even more. It gave me even more strength and determination,” he said.

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Sport

Maskelyne Sets New National Records

By Inside PNG 02/08/2022

Team Papua New Guinea’s swimming sensation, Ryan Maskelyne finished second in his heat with a time of 29.53 seconds knocking off the existing national record of 29.85 seconds and setting a new one for PNG in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke.

Maskelyne was exceptional in his respective events since starting last Saturday where he swam the Men’s 200m Breaststroke coming eighth in a pool consisting of World Record and Commonwealth Games Record holders.

He also broke the Men’s 100m Breaststroke national record of 1:03:89 (set by himself) clocking a new time of 1:03:31.

Swim Team Manager, Sarenah Pini said she was happy with how Team PNG’s swimmers performed at the Commonwealth Games.

“Ryan has done extremely well in his respective events and his performance is a reflection of all the hard work, sacrifices, the long hours to and from training, and the dedication and time put into his training,” said Mrs Pini.

In other results for Day 4, Team PNG’s Georgia-Leigh Vele swam an improved time of 1:01:60 in the Women’s 100m Freestyle in comparison to her 1:01:73 time at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, five weeks ago.

Georgia-Leigh will now prepare for the Queensland Short Course Championships in two weeks’ time. Then to the PNG FedEx National Short Course Championships in October followed by the FINA World Short Course Championships in Melbourne.

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Sport

Squash shifts focus to doubles

By Inside PNG 01/08/2022

Team PNG’s squash trio, Madako Suari Jnr, Feanor Siaguru and Amity Alarcos will turn their attention to the Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles competitions at the Commonwealth Games.

Despite results not going their way over the weekend in the Men’s and Women’s Singles, head coach Marc Forster said there were still positives to take away from the performances of the three.

“Junior (Madako) needs to keep up the standard and keep solid. Youngsters Feanor and Amity will come away with an understanding now of what it takes to be a professional like the players they’re seeing here,” said Forster.

The Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles will start on Wednesday, August 3.

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Sport

Morea Snatches Silver for Team PNG

By Inside PNG 31/07/2022

Team PNG won its first silver medal yesterday (Saturday 30^th July 2022) through weightlifting sensation Morea Baru at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The three-time Commonwealth Games sensation lifted 121kg in the Snatch and 152kg in the Clean and Jerk scoring a total lift of 273kg in the Men’s 61kg division finishing second to Malaysia’s Muhamad Aznil Bin Bidin who scored 285kg. India won bronze with a total lift of 269kg.

This is the second time Baru has won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games, the last one was at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

“Morea Baru’s performance at Birmingham 2022 was brilliant. He put on a strong performance against the Commonwealth’s best and came home with a Silver Medal, putting Team PNG onto the medal tally,” said Team PNG’s Chef de Mission, Michael Henao.

Baru’s quiet, humble demeanour continues to inspire Team PNG, and we join Morea, his family and all Papua New Guineans at home and across the world in congratulating Morea on this fantastic achievement”

In the Women’s category, our female champion Dika Toua took to the platform in what proved to be a highly competitive 49kg division missing out on a medal by a mere 1kg.

Toua lifted 74kg in the Snatch and 96kg in the Clean and Jerk, settling in with a total of 170kg.

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