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Rising talent in the volleyball feast

By Joel PURI                    SportsTok Magazine | Issue #87     


It has been a marvelous volleyball feast at the Taurama Aquatic and Indoor Center marking its 46th national open and 12th under 21 national championships with more than 30 teams participating in the two days tournament to claim the next championship.
The game days were fun filled and really interesting with so many young talents especially under 21’s coming out from their comfort zones to showcase their talents. Among the midst was Eka SOLOMON a 20 years old lad from Western (Father) and Gulf (Mother) who plays for Kauka Volleyball Association under 21. Eka lives at Kirakira Village in the Port Moresby South electorate and attends Butuka Academy doing his grade 10 and be a great player in the court for his team. From a humble beginning as a normal village boy playing volleyball in the community games for fun and pleasure lead to tournaments since 2015 where everything changed with a vision. Then until 2017 young lad played under National Capital District Volleyball Association hoping to get a chance, but the opportunity was limited for him so he left and didn’t play for the rest of that year until 2018 when he decided to play under Kauka Volleyball Association.However, young gent was playing at the Kirakira Volleyball competition and Kauka Volleyball Association selected him to represent the Association in the championships.

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When he first joined Kauka Volleyball Association in 2018, they won the under 21 boys championship title in Lae and defended it in 2019 and longed to defend it in the 2020 national championship for the third time but unfortunately lost the title after bowing out from the 3rd and 4th placing finals.
Even though Kauka lost the under 21 boys title, Eka was already considered to play for the open men together with several others from the under 21.
He comes from sporting background where his family members represented PNG at their prime stage and he hopes that one day he will also follow the footsteps and represent his country in his time. “My mother Sarufa Tore was once a PNG representative in netball (PNG PEPES) and my uncle Pukare Tore was a PNG Amoa volleyball representative, so I believe I inherited the skills and talents as a natural gift from them and I want to make a good use of my skills to be a good role model in my community so that youths and others shall see and be transpired in whatever careers they pursue in,” he said.
Young Eka’s only Eldest brother Paul Solomon is also a volleyballer that plays for National Capital District Volleyball Association in the open mens division. He has confidence in himself and believes that, if they can do it, nothing can stop him from making it through because his dreams of representing PNG one day is greater than any obstacles that drives him to play extraordinarily. He takes the initiative to lead the boys to play hard and smart volleyball to make a name for their small community, family, friends and themselves in the courts. This year young lad is on for the open men squad and looking forward to it with enthusiasm despite challenges. “I’m looking forward to take the courts with the seniors while observing their instructions and player code of ethics to satisfy the teams’ expectation and perform to the best of my ability,” he said.

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